2853 From: Fireman2004@... Date: Sun Oct 3, 2004 1:15am Subject: "SEARCH" Eppy "Live Men Tell Tales fireman20052... Before actress Leslie Charleson hit big on the longest running ABC Daytime soap opeara, "General Hospital," she played the role of Nancy Kubica in that "Search" eppy "Live Men Tell Tales" right? and also, will there be an MP3 file sound to the end credits of that eppy? Ricky 2854 From: "Mike" Date: Fri Oct 8, 2004 6:24pm Subject: Hugh O'Brian in David and Goliath kc8nqa Hello ALL, I just finished watching David and Goliath, starring Hugh O'Brian and Ted Cassidy as Goliath - Lurch. I will try to get some screen grabs when I get some time. Sorry no word on the SEARCH episodes on VHS, I have been trying to contact the source and have not recieve a response yet. No word on the Scanners yet either, I will keep all informed. Good Day ALL. kc8nqa 2855 From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Sat Oct 9, 2004 4:38am Subject: David and Goliath/SEARCH Episodes/Scanners probecontrol Thanks for your efforts, Mike!!! And for keeping us informed, too! Jim probecontrol@... ================================= > Hello ALL, > > I just finished watching David and Goliath, starring Hugh O'Brian > and Ted Cassidy as Goliath - Lurch. > > I will try to get some screen grabs when I get some time. > Sorry no word on the SEARCH episodes on VHS, I have been trying to > contact the source and have not recieve a response yet. > > No word on the Scanners yet either, I will keep all informed. > > Good Day ALL. > kc8nqa 2856 From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Sun Oct 10, 2004 1:19pm Subject: SEARCH Listmembers: Please contribute questions for John Strong Interview probecontrol Fellow SEARCH fans-- Thanks to prompting by John Gumbinger--one of the two men responsible for the YahooGroups SEARCH list and the www.probecontrol.com website--I recently contacted Mr. John Strong. Among other things, Mr. Strong was the Associate Producer of the PROBE pilot film, as well as the subsequent SEARCH TV series. Don Harden describes Strong's contributions thusly: ============ (The) "Associate producer back then was basically what Bob Justman did for Trek. The physical construction of the final filmed pilot or episode was his responsibility, so he was much involved in the final look and sound of the show. (I think there is a section of Roddenberry's old book, "The Making of Star Trek," which goes more into what an associate producer did back then. Today I'm sure it's still similar, but there have been changes over the years.) When Leslie Stevens left the day-to-day producership, Angel Tompkins said that it was Anthony Spinner and John C. Strong who worked together to try to fill Stevens' shoes, but it was tough going." ============ Mr. Strong has an exclusive perspective: He may have been the O-N-L-Y behind-the-scenes individual who was present from the Pilot film... until the end of the series. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote Strong a letter on company letterhead and sent it to him via snail-mail. Today, the phone at my desk rang, and I picked it up. "Hi, Jim. This is John Strong." Since I don't regularly deal with anyone named 'John Strong', it actually took me a couple of seconds to figure out whom I was talking to. Only THEN was I taken aback. ;) Mr. Strong was quite pleasant and open about talking about SEARCH (as my letter requested). We talked for about 10 minutes, and I had to eventually get HIM off the phone because I told him I didn't want to talk to him at length without being able to record all the details he was gonna give me. I asked him to tell me a good time to call him back, and he suggested that I call him on Monday or Tuesday morning. "I'm not really prepared for this phone call," I said. "Neither AM *I*," quipped Strong! Pretty FUNNY! ;) He seems like a wonderful, knowledgable, talkative guy... and the best part of all... he seems to have a MILLION anecdotes about SEARCH. Just to share a few quick ones: * Strong claims to still own an original SCANNER, as well the original artcard with the SEARCH logo (he said he designed the classic red/blue/white SEARCH logo) that he originally presented to NBC for their approval. * Strong said that HE was the one who 'got Meredith back for the series,' by luring him with talk that Richard Basehart was interested in the role. * A 'gift' was given Meredith to lure him to do the pilot; some fancy-schmancy WINE (Strong related the EXACT year and vintage, but I don't remember the specifics) of which only 13 bottles still existed, at the time. I told him it sounded like THAT 'wine' stuff was eventually written into the show, which he acknowledged. * Meredith filmed his segments in (only) three-days of shooting per week, and two of those days were BY HIMSELF. Only a single day of Meredith's work involved the other Probe Control extras. * Strong, unsolicited, said that he thought the scanners that Mike Walston makes--that he saw on the probecontrol.com website were great! * He said that Tony Franciosa was Best Man at TWO (!) of his weddings. * "We had a helluva time making that show," said Strong. "We worked like DOGS seven days a week, but had a GREAT time." So... since I'll be speaking with Mr. Strong early next week, I'd like anyone who wishes to send me questions for Mr. Strong: The change in the Probe Control set... Probe Control Technician cast changes... Leslie Stevens' involvement with the show... Guest stars... What was Doug McClure really like...? ;) I have a feeling from talking to Strong even for just a few minutes that it'd be difficult to find anything about SEARCH that he DIDN'T know about. ;) Please e-mail me your questions OFF-LIST, and I will compile them, and make a list. John Strong seems like the guy we've been waiting to talk to! Who knows. This might be the only opportunity to find out the answers to some of those questions that've been nagging us for years. :) So don't delay. Write me with your questions and suggestions today! ;) Thanks-- Jim Alexander probecontrol@... 2857 From: "Michael Beacom" Date: Sun Oct 10, 2004 2:07pm Subject: RE: SEARCH Listmembers: Please contribute questions for John Strong Interview anonimity_2003 Dear Jim, It's not possible that you'd miss this one but for the record I want to know who owns the rights to the show now, (Where is it and why has no one seen it for ages) and how would one go about getting this show onto a cable network or remastered and released on DVD as has been discussed here before. Also, can someone get some up close pictures of this original scanner? Can he tell us how was the prop made and of what? It is an irony that many times fan recreations of television props exceed the originals in quality simply because the originals have to look good on a 19 inch screen while fan-made props have to look good in one's hand. I am curious to see a comparison of one of the original props with the duplicates that several fans have produced. Michael Beacom mjbeacom@... ----- Original Message ----- From: Jim Alexander To: probe_control@yahoogroups.com Sent: 10/10/2004 8:20:15 AM Subject: [probe_control] SEARCH Listmembers: Please contribute questions for John Strong Interview Fellow SEARCH fans-- Thanks to prompting by John Gumbinger--one of the two men responsible for the YahooGroups SEARCH list and the www.probecontrol.com website--I recently contacted Mr. John Strong. Among other things, Mr. Strong was the Associate Producer of the PROBE pilot film, as well as the subsequent SEARCH TV series. Don Harden describes Strong's contributions thusly: ============ (The) "Associate producer back then was basically what Bob Justman did for Trek. The physical construction of the final filmed pilot or episode was his responsibility, so he was much involved in the final look and sound of the show. (I think there is a section of Roddenberry's old book, "The Making of Star Trek," which goes more into what an associate producer did back then. Today I'm sure it's still similar, but there have been changes over the years.) When Leslie Stevens left the day-to-day producership, Angel Tompkins said that it was Anthony Spinner and John C. Strong who worked together to try to fill Stevens' shoes, but it was tough going." ============ Mr. Strong has an exclusive perspective: He may have been the O-N-L-Y behind-the-scenes individual who was present from the Pilot film... until the end of the series. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote Strong a letter on company letterhead and sent it to him via snail-mail. Today, the phone at my desk rang, and I picked it up. "Hi, Jim. This is John Strong." Since I don't regularly deal with anyone named 'John Strong', it actually took me a couple of seconds to figure out whom I was talking to. Only THEN was I taken aback. ;) Mr. Strong was quite pleasant and open about talking about SEARCH (as my letter requested). We talked for about 10 minutes, and I had to eventually get HIM off the phone because I told him I didn't want to talk to him at length without being able to record all the details he was gonna give me. I asked him to tell me a good time to call him back, and he suggested that I call him on Monday or Tuesday morning. "I'm not really prepared for this phone call," I said. "Neither AM *I*," quipped Strong! Pretty FUNNY! ;) He seems like a wonderful, knowledgable, talkative guy... and the best part of all... he seems to have a MILLION anecdotes about SEARCH. Just to share a few quick ones: * Strong claims to still own an original SCANNER, as well the original artcard with the SEARCH logo (he said he designed the classic red/blue/white SEARCH logo) that he originally presented to NBC for their approval. * Strong said that HE was the one who 'got Meredith back for the series,' by luring him with talk that Richard Basehart was interested in the role. * A 'gift' was given Meredith to lure him to do the pilot; some fancy-schmancy WINE (Strong related the EXACT year and vintage, but I don't remember the specifics) of which only 13 bottles still existed, at the time. I told him it sounded like THAT 'wine' stuff was eventually written into the show, which he acknowledged. * Meredith filmed his segments in (only) three-days of shooting per week, and two of those days were BY HIMSELF. Only a single day of Meredith's work involved the other Probe Control extras. * Strong, unsolicited, said that he thought the scanners that Mike Walston makes--that he saw on the probecontrol.com website were great! * He said that Tony Franciosa was Best Man at TWO (!) of his weddings. * "We had a helluva time making that show," said Strong. "We worked like DOGS seven days a week, but had a GREAT time." So... since I'll be speaking with Mr. Strong early next week, I'd like anyone who wishes to send me questions for Mr. Strong: The change in the Probe Control set... Probe Control Technician cast changes... Leslie Stevens' involvement with the show... Guest stars... What was Doug McClure really like...? ;) I have a feeling from talking to Strong even for just a few minutes that it'd be difficult to find anything about SEARCH that he DIDN'T know about. ;) Please e-mail me your questions OFF-LIST, and I will compile them, and make a list. John Strong seems like the guy we've been waiting to talk to! Who knows. This might be the only opportunity to find out the answers to some of those questions that've been nagging us for years. :) So don't delay. Write me with your questions and suggestions today! ;) Thanks-- Jim Alexander probecontrol@... 2858 From: "dghprobe3" Date: Sun Oct 10, 2004 6:18pm Subject: George W. Bush -- Probe agent? dghprobe3 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/08/bulge/index_np.html ---------------------------------- Bush's mystery bulge The rumor is flying around the globe. Was the president wired during the first debate? - - - - - - - - - - - - By Dave Lindorff Oct. 8, 2004 | Was President Bush literally channeling Karl Rove in his first debate with John Kerry? That's the latest rumor flooding the Internet, unleashed last week in the wake of an image caught by a television camera during the Miami debate. The image shows a large solid object between Bush's shoulder blades as he leans over the lectern and faces moderator Jim Lehrer. The president is not known to wear a back brace, and it's safe to say he wasn't packing. So was the bulge under his well-tailored jacket a hidden receiver, picking up transmissions from someone offstage feeding the president answers through a hidden earpiece? Did the device explain why the normally ramrod-straight president seemed hunched over during much of the debate? (Photo and full article obtainable at Salon link top of page.) 2859 From: "dghprobe3" Date: Mon Oct 11, 2004 1:15am Subject: Atlanta Journal adds to 'Bush wired' story dghprobe3 The Sunday morning Oct. 10th Atlanta Journal (pg. A-12) chimed in on the Salon piece as to whether Bush was wired electronically to Karl Rove during the first debate: "Custom-made for conspiracy theorists" What was that long, boxy bulge visible between President Bush's shoulder blades during the first debate? Salon writer David Lindorff suggested in an online article last week that presidential advisor Karl Rove might have been feeding Bush answers through some electronic gizmo with an earpiece buried in his ear canal. "There's definitely something under there pushing up through the suit," Lindorff said. Lindorff's story quoted Jacob McKenna, a spyware expert, who said there are microchip-based earpieces that can be pushed so far into the ear canal that they are virtually undetectable. Mark McKinnon, the media director for the Bush campaign, categorically denied the use of any sort of communication device. "The truth is not nearly as interesting," McKinnon said. "The president has never been assisted by any audio signal." Bush's tailor, Georges de Paris, said the bulge was nothing more than a pucker along the jacket's back seam, accentuated when the president crossed his arms and leaned forward on the lectern. ------------------------------------- --- In probe_control, "dghprobe3" wrote: > http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/08/bulge/index_np.html > ---------------------------------- > Bush's mystery bulge > The rumor is flying around the globe. > Was the president wired during the first debate? > - - - - - - - - - - - - 2860 From: "Marta Dawes" Date: Mon Oct 11, 2004 1:48am Subject: RE: Atlanta Journal adds to 'Bush wired' story martadawes I took a look at that picture of Bush, and that's not a pucker of the material; anyone who knows material would not suggest such a thing and expect to be taken seriously. There is clearly something underneath his jacket, something that is hard and square. Marta http://www.steveandmarta.com Home of "The Graveyards of Omaha" and "The New Twilight Zone" websites. See the 2004 TZ Convention page! -----Original Message----- From: dghprobe3 [mailto:dghprobe3@...] Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2004 8:16 PM To: probe_control@yahoogroups.com Subject: [probe_control] Atlanta Journal adds to 'Bush wired' story The Sunday morning Oct. 10th Atlanta Journal (pg. A-12) chimed in on the Salon piece as to whether Bush was wired electronically to Karl Rove during the first debate: "Custom-made for conspiracy theorists" What was that long, boxy bulge visible between President Bush's shoulder blades during the first debate? Salon writer David Lindorff suggested in an online article last week that presidential advisor Karl Rove might have been feeding Bush answers through some electronic gizmo with an earpiece buried in his ear canal. "There's definitely something under there pushing up through the suit," Lindorff said. Lindorff's story quoted Jacob McKenna, a spyware expert, who said there are microchip-based earpieces that can be pushed so far into the ear canal that they are virtually undetectable. Mark McKinnon, the media director for the Bush campaign, categorically denied the use of any sort of communication device. "The truth is not nearly as interesting," McKinnon said. "The president has never been assisted by any audio signal." Bush's tailor, Georges de Paris, said the bulge was nothing more than a pucker along the jacket's back seam, accentuated when the president crossed his arms and leaned forward on the lectern. ------------------------------------- --- In probe_control, "dghprobe3" wrote: > http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/08/bulge/index_np.html > ---------------------------------- > Bush's mystery bulge > The rumor is flying around the globe. > Was the president wired during the first debate? > - - - - - - - - - - - - 2861 From: Martin Parrott Date: Mon Oct 11, 2004 2:28am Subject: Question for owners of Probe pilot from Unicorn video parrottm76262 I got a big shock tonight after watching the Probe pilot episode I received from Movies Unlimited. I have watched it a few times in the past, but I always stopped it and rewound the tape when the episode ended. Tonight I left the room and let it run knowing the player would automatically rewind the tape when it reached the end. I came back into the room a few minutes later and was presented with a totally different movie which was at the end of the tape. Without being too explicit, let us just say I would never have bought the movie being played on my VHS machine. Now to my question, is this just a fluke or does anyone else have a 'bonus' feature at the end of their episode? I would be tempted to try to return this garbage and get my money back, but I have had the tape for over a year and I am sure the company would just say 'oops, sorry for the inconvenience'. Thanks all, Martin 2862 From: "dghprobe3" Date: Mon Oct 11, 2004 2:46am Subject: Re: Question for owners of Probe pilot from Unicorn video dghprobe3 --- In probe_control, Martin Parrott wrote: > Now to my question, is this just a fluke or does anyone else have a > 'bonus' feature at the end of their episode? Hi Martin: A few years ago I recall an article in our local paper about a local video rental place, a customer complained about the same sort of thing. A movie would play, sometimes a children's title, then after that movie ended a different, more x-rated movie would show up afterwards. It seems that originally there was a different raunchier movie on your tape in the first instance, and Unicorn somehow acquired or used that tape for their stock. They put "Probe" over the earlier movie, but didn't take care that the tape recorded all the way to the end, which would have gotten rid of the previous movie. Apparently this happens at times, but I don't think all the tapes of "Probe" are exactly the same. Be interesting to get feedback from other members of the list who have a copy of the Unicorn tape. You could possibly return your tape of "Probe" to Unicorn Video, but since the title is out of print, they wouldn't have a new one to return to you. One solution: Cover the "don't erase" tab of your VHS tape with some masking tape, then tune your satellite receiver to Channel "0" for a black screen, or to a test pattern image and dub that over the offending remaining portion of the other movie. Be careful not to dub over any part of "Probe." When finished, remove the masking tape so as to not accidentally erase your tape of "Probe" at any time in the future. --Don 2863 From: Martin Parrott Date: Mon Oct 11, 2004 4:30am Subject: Re: Question for owners of Probe pilot from Unicorn video parrottm76262 Don, Good suggestion. What I think I will also do is capture the Probe episode in raw format and convert the humongous avi file to DVD format, then burn it on DVD-R. I will then have a copy that should last longer than the VHS. I have been playing around with custom settings in my MPEG software to remove VHS noise and fix the saturation problems anyway, so I will probably end up with a better looking copy than the original. It just burns me up the duplication companies are not more careful. I will do what you said as well as I would like to keep the VHS tape and sleeve just as a 'safe' collectible. :) Martin dghprobe3 wrote: > One solution: Cover the "don't erase" tab of your VHS tape with some > masking tape, then tune your satellite receiver to Channel "0" for a > black screen, or to a test pattern image and dub that over the > offending remaining portion of the other movie. Be careful not to > dub over any part of "Probe." When finished, remove the masking tape > so as to not accidentally erase your tape of "Probe" at any time in > the future. > > --Don 2864 From: DAVID AGOSTA Date: Mon Oct 11, 2004 3:18am Subject: Re: Re: Question for owners of Probe pilot from Unicorn video davidfilm2020 HELLO...MY NAME IS DAVID ....AND I AM A MEMBER OF THE SAME GROUP AS YOU ARE. LOVE THE OLD PROBE CONTROL STUFF......BUT I CAN NOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME FIND ANYTHING.....LIKE DVD'S. COULD YOU DIRECT ME WHERE I COULD FIND ONE OR TWO COPYIES??? I LIVE HERE IN N.Y.....DESPITE THIS NOT ONE THING CAN BE FOUND. COULD YOU HELP?......THANKS DAVID! dghprobe3 wrote: --- In probe_control, Martin Parrott wrote: > Now to my question, is this just a fluke or does anyone else have a > 'bonus' feature at the end of their episode? Hi Martin: A few years ago I recall an article in our local paper about a local video rental place, a customer complained about the same sort of thing. A movie would play, sometimes a children's title, then after that movie ended a different, more x-rated movie would show up afterwards. It seems that originally there was a different raunchier movie on your tape in the first instance, and Unicorn somehow acquired or used that tape for their stock. They put "Probe" over the earlier movie, but didn't take care that the tape recorded all the way to the end, which would have gotten rid of the previous movie. Apparently this happens at times, but I don't think all the tapes of "Probe" are exactly the same. Be interesting to get feedback from other members of the list who have a copy of the Unicorn tape. You could possibly return your tape of "Probe" to Unicorn Video, but since the title is out of print, they wouldn't have a new one to return to you. One solution: Cover the "don't erase" tab of your VHS tape with some masking tape, then tune your satellite receiver to Channel "0" for a black screen, or to a test pattern image and dub that over the offending remaining portion of the other movie. Be careful not to dub over any part of "Probe." When finished, remove the masking tape so as to not accidentally erase your tape of "Probe" at any time in the future. --Don 2865 From: Date: Mon Oct 11, 2004 1:33pm Subject: Martin Parrott's 'XXX-tra' video on PROBE videocassette probecontrol Just to clue you in to how 'differently' these things work... My PROBE pilot was evidently recorded onto a shorter videocassette (a 95-minute one, evidently). My tape rewinds about a minute after the pilot ends. :) Jim Alexander 2866 From: Date: Mon Oct 11, 2004 2:52pm Subject: Questions for John Strong re: SEARCH probecontrol Thanks to everyone who e-mailed me questions for Mr. Strong. You'll have to forgive me if I don't e-mail each one of you personally to thank you for your contributions... but I'm spending the time sorting the questions, rewording some of them that are repetitive with other listmembers' questions, and putting them in a logical format. If anyone has any 'last thoughts' on questions, feel free to e-mail them to me by early evening, tonight... and I'll insert them into what I already have. If things go well and he's available, I plan on speaking with Mr. Strong tomorrow afternoon. Thanks-- Jim Alexander probecontrol@... 2867 From: probe_control@yahoogroups.com Date: Mon Oct 11, 2004 6:58pm Subject: New file uploaded to probe_control probe_control@yahoogroups.com Hello, This email message is a notification to let you know that a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the probe_control group. File : /pinBS.jpg Uploaded by : prophetlivingood Description : You can access this file at the URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/probe_control/files/pinBS.jpg To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files Regards, prophetlivingood 2868 From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Tue Oct 12, 2004 7:43pm Subject: Interview with John C. Strong probecontrol Minutes ago, I hung up the phone after an hour-and-45-minute conversation with John C. Strong--the Associate Producer of the PROBE pilot film, and SEARCH. It will take me a while to transcribe the lengthy conversation, but I'm guessing that many of you are interested in what was discussed... so I will try and accomplish this enjoyable task as quickly as possible (perhaps in multiple sections). To digress: The new, fresh-out-of-the-box audiocassette recorder that I purchased at Radio Shack especially for the interview never functioned. I bought it the day before, and because I was spending all my time editing all of your questions, I didn't test it until about 90 minutes before I was due to talk to Strong (silly me--assuming it would actually WORK!!!). It would PLAY, but wouldn't RECORD. So... at the last-minute, I jerry-rigged something with the audiocassette deck in my entertainment system, BARELY held together with bubble gum and bailing wire (meaning about 8 different adaptors and patch cords) that didn't work well at all... just so I could talk to Mr. Strong at the designated time. I was VERRRRRRY nervous that it would fail halfway through, and that the conversation that I'd envisioned with Strong would never get recorded for posterity, and all of us. :( But the Great God Stevens (Leslie, of course) must have been smiling down on us. ;) Strong asked if I'd mind calling back an hour-and-a-half later. :) YESSS!!! That gave me time to run back to Radio Shack, purchase another recorder 'specially-made for phone conversations, demand that the salesperson CHECK it in front of me to make sure that it functioned... and return home JUST in time to hook it up. I won't bore you with too many more details before I begin the transcription process... except that Mr. Strong couldn't have been more patient, gracious and giving during this "non-professional's" interview. I consider him a true gentleman. Although he referred to himself as "old school" and "possessing knowledge about film and TV techniques no longer valuable in Hollywood" (I'm paraphrasing, as he was not quite as kind in speaking about himself)... he was being much too modest. Strong isn't sitting in an apartment somewhere staring at television in a darkened room and thinking of "past glories." He's still very much involved in the industry. He brushed aside two other business calls while he was speaking to me, and at the end of the conversation, revealed not one, but THREE different projects on which he is currently working. What I'm trying to say is, Mr. Strong is a businessman, and was very gracious with his time. At the end of the conversation, I admitted that there were probably questions that I'd neglected to ask, and would be kicking myself for not bringing up with him while we were on the phone. So what did he do? Strong insisted that I call him back--'anytime'--if I thought of anything else! Wow. And... to further demonstrate what a wonderful individual he is... halfway through my typing up this e-mail, Strong used Caller I.D. (I never supplied him with my home phone number) to call me back, and asked that I call HIM back early next week... because our conversation had "unlocked some memories" and he'd thought of a few things that he still wanted to share with SEARCH fans! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!?! :) So there you have it. Forgive me if I went on too long in sharing these details, but (after the initial technical problem) it's been a GOOD morning. ;) Thanks-- Jim Alexander probecontrol@... 2869 From: bob.greenberger@... Date: Tue Oct 12, 2004 8:01pm Subject: Re: Interview with John C. Strong bobgrnbrgr Jim, You have done everyone in this group a wonderful service. I hope the transcription proess goes smoothly and painlessly, because I can't wait to see the anecdotes. Thanks for doing this. -- Bob > > Minutes ago, I hung up the phone after an hour-and-45-minute conversation with > John C. Strong--the Associate Producer of the PROBE pilot film, and SEARCH. > > It will take me a while to transcribe the lengthy conversation, but I'm guessing > that many of you are interested in what was discussed... so I will try and > accomplish this enjoyable task as quickly as possible (perhaps in multiple > sections). > > To digress: The new, fresh-out-of-the-box audiocassette recorder that I > purchased at Radio Shack especially for the interview never functioned. I > bought it the day before, and because I was spending all my time editing all of > your questions, I didn't test it until about 90 minutes before I was due to talk > to Strong (silly me--assuming it would actually WORK!!!). It would PLAY, but > wouldn't RECORD. So... at the last-minute, I jerry-rigged something with the > audiocassette deck in my entertainment system, BARELY held together with bubble > gum and bailing wire (meaning about 8 different adaptors and patch cords) that > didn't work well at all... just so I could talk to Mr. Strong at the designated > time. I was VERRRRRRY nervous that it would fail halfway through, and that the > conversation that I'd envisioned with Strong would never get recorded for > posterity, and all of us. :( > > But the Great God Stevens (Leslie, of course) must have been smiling down on us. > ;) Strong asked if I'd mind calling back an hour-and-a-half later. :) > YESSS!!! That gave me time to run back to Radio Shack, purchase another > recorder 'specially-made for phone conversations, demand that the salesperson > CHECK it in front of me to make sure that it functioned... and return home JUST > in time to hook it up. > > I won't bore you with too many more details before I begin the transcription > process... except that Mr. Strong couldn't have been more patient, gracious and > giving during this "non-professional's" interview. I consider him a true > gentleman. Although he referred to himself as "old school" and "possessing > knowledge about film and TV techniques no longer valuable in Hollywood" (I'm > paraphrasing, as he was not quite as kind in speaking about himself)... he was > being much too modest. Strong isn't sitting in an apartment somewhere staring > at television in a darkened room and thinking of "past glories." He's still > very much involved in the industry. He brushed aside two other business calls > while he was speaking to me, and at the end of the conversation, revealed not > one, but THREE different projects on which he is currently working. What I'm > trying to say is, Mr. Strong is a businessman, and was very gracious with his > time. > > At the end of the conversation, I admitted that there were probably questions > that I'd neglected to ask, and would be kicking myself for not bringing up with > him while we were on the phone. So what did he do? Strong insisted that I call > him back--'anytime'--if I thought of anything else! Wow. > > And... to further demonstrate what a wonderful individual he is... halfway > through my typing up this e-mail, Strong used Caller I.D. (I never supplied him > with my home phone number) to call me back, and asked that I call HIM back early > next week... because our conversation had "unlocked some memories" and he'd > thought of a few things that he still wanted to share with SEARCH fans! CAN YOU > BELIEVE THAT?!?! :) > > So there you have it. Forgive me if I went on too long in sharing these > details, but (after the initial technical problem) it's been a GOOD morning. ;) > > Thanks-- > > Jim Alexander > probecontrol@... > 2870 From: "dghprobe3" Date: Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:36pm Subject: Re: Interview with John C. Strong dghprobe3 Hi Jim: I have to echo Bob G's sentiments: Many, many thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to establish contact, and do the interview with John C. Strong. Plus going the extra mile to make sure you were able to get a tape of the interview. It looks like we're finally going to get some interesting answers to a number of those questions that have been nagging us lo these many years. :-) As Cam would say, "keep us informed of ALL developments." --Don H. 2871 From: DAVID AGOSTA Date: Tue Oct 12, 2004 10:28pm Subject: Re: Interview with John C. Strong davidfilm2020 Dear Mr. Alexander, Thanks for the info you sent to the probe group. The conversation with Mr. Strong must have been very interesting. Look forward to the transcription of you're talk. I'm very happy to have found this group. Once thank you for a job well done. Sincerely......David D'Agosta Jim Alexander wrote: Minutes ago, I hung up the phone after an hour-and-45-minute conversation with John C. Strong--the Associate Producer of the PROBE pilot film, and SEARCH. It will take me a while to transcribe the lengthy conversation, but I'm guessing that many of you are interested in what was discussed... so I will try and accomplish this enjoyable task as quickly as possible (perhaps in multiple sections). To digress: The new, fresh-out-of-the-box audiocassette recorder that I purchased at Radio Shack especially for the interview never functioned. I bought it the day before, and because I was spending all my time editing all of your questions, I didn't test it until about 90 minutes before I was due to talk to Strong (silly me--assuming it would actually WORK!!!). It would PLAY, but wouldn't RECORD. So... at the last-minute, I jerry-rigged something with the audiocassette deck in my entertainment system, BARELY held together with bubble gum and bailing wire (meaning about 8 different adaptors and patch cords) that didn't work well at all... just so I could talk to Mr. Strong at the designated time. I was VERRRRRRY nervous that it would fail halfway through, and that the conversation that I'd envisioned with Strong would never get recorded for posterity, and all of us. :( But the Great God Stevens (Leslie, of course) must have been smiling down on us. ;) Strong asked if I'd mind calling back an hour-and-a-half later. :) YESSS!!! That gave me time to run back to Radio Shack, purchase another recorder 'specially-made for phone conversations, demand that the salesperson CHECK it in front of me to make sure that it functioned... and return home JUST in time to hook it up. I won't bore you with too many more details before I begin the transcription process... except that Mr. Strong couldn't have been more patient, gracious and giving during this "non-professional's" interview. I consider him a true gentleman. Although he referred to himself as "old school" and "possessing knowledge about film and TV techniques no longer valuable in Hollywood" (I'm paraphrasing, as he was not quite as kind in speaking about himself)... he was being much too modest. Strong isn't sitting in an apartment somewhere staring at television in a darkened room and thinking of "past glories." He's still very much involved in the industry. He brushed aside two other business calls while he was speaking to me, and at the end of the conversation, revealed not one, but THREE different projects on which he is currently working. What I'm trying to say is, Mr. Strong is a businessman, and was very gracious with his time. At the end of the conversation, I admitted that there were probably questions that I'd neglected to ask, and would be kicking myself for not bringing up with him while we were on the phone. So what did he do? Strong insisted that I call him back--'anytime'--if I thought of anything else! Wow. And... to further demonstrate what a wonderful individual he is... halfway through my typing up this e-mail, Strong used Caller I.D. (I never supplied him with my home phone number) to call me back, and asked that I call HIM back early next week... because our conversation had "unlocked some memories" and he'd thought of a few things that he still wanted to share with SEARCH fans! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!?! :) So there you have it. Forgive me if I went on too long in sharing these details, but (after the initial technical problem) it's been a GOOD morning. ;) Thanks-- Jim Alexander probecontrol@... 2872 From: dmanmetz@... Date: Wed Oct 13, 2004 2:44am Subject: Re: Interview with John C. Strong dmanmetz@... Jim, I think all of us are impressed with your initiative, drive, and motivation to accomplish what you did. I just wanted to say thanks because Search is one of all time favorite shows and I love hearing about what happened behind the scenes of tv shows and movies that I enjoy. And thank God for good decent people like John C. Strong to give up his time the way he did. Now stop reading this message and get to work!!! (LOL) We are all dying to find out what you learned! Chris 2873 From: Date: Wed Oct 13, 2004 9:46pm Subject: 'Thanks' to John C. Strong probecontrol >... Jim, I think all of us are impressed with your initiative, drive, and motivation to accomplish what you did. =========== That's very nice of you, but it never would'a happened if list manager John Gumbinger hadn't have said, "Here's an address! Give it a shot!" ;) Don't forget--I'm just as big'a fan as the REST'a'ya! :) ============ >... I just wanted to say thanks because Search is one of all time favorite shows and I love hearing about what happened behind the scenes of tv shows and movies that I enjoy. And thank God for good decent people like John C. Strong to give up his time the way he did. ============ Yes--You're right! Well said. In fact, perhaps it would be a nice idea to make some sort of 'Thank You' card to send Strong at his business address-- or is that a stupid idea? Is there a way to do a snail-mail card that has some sort of contribution from us listmembers saying 'thanks' (like, with electronic signatures or something)... or is such a thing always done as an 'e-card'? Don? The rest of you techie- people? ============= >... Now stop reading this message and get to work!!! (LOL) We are all dying to find out what you learned! ============= You're right, of course. ;) But I have to get done with my 'mortgage-paying' job here before I can get home to my 'labor of love'. ;) I should have the first installment ready by the end of the evening (though it might mean taping SMALLVILLE rather than watching it 'live'). ;) Thanks, Chris-- Jim 2874 From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:19am Subject: John C. Strong interview--Part One probecontrol Here's the first 'installment' of my interview with John Christopher Strong. It was conducted on October 12th, 2004 at 12:35pm CST. Perhaps I've taken a bit too long in transcribing and posting this first segment, but Strong mentions people and places on which I wished to acquire a bit of information before I related them. Not only did I wish to spell their names properly (Did Strong say the man's name was 'Jurgen' or 'Dirkin' or 'Durgan'?), but I also desired a bit of historical reference, myself. Not only did I NOT live in Los Angeles in the 1970's when these events that Strong is relating take place... but I've never even been to Los Angeles. So I had no idea what/where 'The Bistro' was that Strong mentioned. Perhaps you'll be 'in the same boat' with me when you read this? If no one desires the 'NOTES' I've littered about the transcription, please let me know on or off-list, and if there's a consensus, I'll modify future installments accordingly. :) And if I've made any mistakes/misspellings regarding people or places.. I hope you'll let me know. Enjoy-- Jim Alexander probecontrol@... ==================================================== S: Hello? A: Mr. Strong! Jim Alexander here, sir. S: Hi, Jim. How are you? A: Doing well. I hope YOU are, today? S: I am indeed. A: Good. Do you have time to talk, sir? S: Sure. Why not? A: I've had people e-mailing me questions for you literally from all around the world, and they're pretty enthusiastic. Let's start right out. Can you give us an overview of your early Hollywood career, and what led to your involvement in the PROBE pilot? S: Um. Let's see. Leslie Stevens and I were partners. We'd done a show called NAME OF THE GAME... (and) STONEY BURKE and THE OUTER LIMITS. Um, and we'd done a show called McCLOUD--I don't know if you remember that. A: I remember every show you're talking about--even STONEY BURKE with Jack Lord. S: Jack Lord, Warren Oates, Bob Dowdell, Bruce Dern... and uh, we were best friends... and we developed the 'Four In One' concept called THE WORLD PREMIERE at NBC/Universal, of which McCLOUD was a part of, if you remember. A: Correct. McCLOUD pre-dated SEARCH. S: That's correct. Then, after McCLOUD was on the air, we left Universal, and we had done a show called... we had (unintelligible) a show called '1999', which in those days, uh... this was '71... '70. And, uh... it evolved into SEARCH. A: '1999' evolved into SEARCH. Interesting! How different WAS the concept of '1999' from what we ultimately know as SEARCH? S: A lot. A lot. WORLD SECURITIES was an 'overview' of what the world needed--what WE thought the world needed; we had done a lot of things... we'd created something called EARTHSIDE MISSILE BASE where we took a missile silo in Sacremento and turned it into an Ecology Center. We had done a lot of strange things because we believed in different things. We thought the world needed a concept of 'security' where people, uh... would literally, uh... it looked like an Insurance Company... would be a Security Company. A: A 'front?' S: Pardon me? A: Some sort of a 'front?' S: Yeah. Like a front. A: Gotcha. So, with WORLD SECURITIES and '1999' the concept kind of developed into SEARCH. S: It developed into PROBE. A: Sure. The pilot film's original title. S: That was based on the fact that the Probe (agent) would be someone who would go into a place where nobody else could go. A: Right. Which leads me into a question I just thought of. Stevens, or whoever, came up with the concept of P.R.O.B.E.--the first three letters of which stood for "Programmed Retrieval Operations." It was never revealed what the letters 'B' and 'E' stood for. Any clue as to what (those letters) may have meant? (chuckles) S: (chuckles) I think you're reading more into than we ever had. A: It's always been one of those 'nagging' questions that fans of the series had wondered about. S: We never had it. A: Well, THERE'S a definitive answer, then! (laughs) So your friendship with Mr. Stevens--as well as the talent you brought to the project--led you to work on the pilot film PROBE. Did your responsibilities change from what they were during the pilot, when it became a series? S: Uh, no. I was in charge of, uh... reviews of the screenplays, rewriting them with Leslie... writing ONE of the screenplays called 'In Search of Midas'... then I directed all the Second Unit, and designed the show. A: Right. You co-authored 'Midas' with Michael Stein. S: Mike Stein, yeah. An old buddy of mine. He actually didn't do any of the writing... A: (chuckles) S: ... but, at the time he had cancer, and I thought I'd... share some wealth. A: Understood. So you said your responsibilities were rather far-reaching with regards to the PROBE pilot. You had a lot of input, or actually came up with the design of the Scanners, uh... S: Everything! A: Everything! S: Yeah. I even, uh... in the pilot, Dominic (Frontiere--who scored the show) was doing a Main Title Sequence with music (hums the first few seconds of the SEARCH theme song, note-for-note)... you know that tune? A: Absolutely. Unforgettable. S: (chuckles) And I designed the Main Title Sequence with the 'diamonds'. I got, I believe it was Harry Winston... =============== NOTE: Harry Winston was a jeweler for TV shows and movies for 40 years. More recently, he supplied the jewels for Peter Hyam's 'The Musketeer' in 2001. His imdb listing is: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0935588/ ================ A: ... or somebody... to get me some big stones. And I shot that with a Questar 1500 millimeter lens, which no one had ever used before in movies, to get that close to them, to make them absolutely dazzling. A: I remember those shots. They actually went in and out of focus. Beautiful! S: That's correct. A: When the PROBE pilot was retitled SEARCH, and ran in syndication packages, that particular footage was actually used full-screen, going in and out of commercials. S: Right. That's correct. A: I don't know if they were used in the same fashion during the pilot's original network airing, but that's the way it appeared in syndication. S: And what I tried to do... and of course Leslie (Stevens) gave me a full hand because he was doin' HIS deal, and I did MINE... A: And what was HIS deal, basically? S: He would be rewriting most scripts, and I would be rewriting the OTHER ones. A: Gotcha. S: We had LOTS of writers, and LOTS of directors, and we had an 'impossible' show to create because... I shot 'Probe Control' one day a week... and on the days we bunched the shows together. Okay? That's how I got 'Buzz' (Strong's nickname for Meredith) to do the show. A: Understood. Your nickname for Burgess Meredith was 'Buzz'? S: That's right. He was a wonderful guy. A: I'd like to hear more about him. S: Well... you know 'Buzz' was an ecology wonder-boy. He used to hang out with Barbara Birdfeather... =============== NOTE: A google search for 'Barbara Birdfeather' indicates the individual that Meredith spent time with was either a popular L.A. Disc Jockey at the time (see http://www.laradio.com/whereb.htm) or my guess: an Astrologer/Author of the book "The Birdfeather Astrological Space Books: Tales of the Universe", published in 1969 =============== A: ... and the (unintelligible) Masters down in Malibu. He was just the most wonderful man that ever walked! A: Kind of a "renaissance man"...? S: He was INDEED A renaissance man. His IQ was up in the 160s', and he was something very special. Anyway, 'Buzz' was very pragmatic. He said, "Ah! The show will never get picked up! It's too good! It's got too much quality, blah, blah, blah." (pauses) Then I'll tell you about the PROBE pilot in a minute--there's something I remembered that would be of interest to you. A: Great! S: Anyway, I told him, "Don't worry. We'll get picked up." So he says, "I'll bet you a dinner at the best restaurant in town," which at the time was 'The Bistro' here in Los Angeles. ================ NOTE: In this web column, 'CONNIE MARTINSON TALKS BOOKS' dated 8/30/2000, Martinson writes: "It was the restaurant people went to when they wanted to feel important or beautiful. It wasn't always easy to get a reservation but then that was what made it seem so special. The restaurant was 'The Bistro' on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills, and the ring master/owner was Kurt Niklas. 'The Bistro' gave birth to 'The Bistro Gardens' down the road and to 'The Bistro Gardens at Coldwater'." A link can be found at: http://www.conniemartinson.com/CMTB/004.html ================= S: So, for 'Buzz' to spend money was like pinching... A: (laughs) S: ... pinching. (chuckles) So anyway, we went to 'The Bistro' with my wife at the time, and 'Buzz' was there alone... and we were sitting next to Zsa Zsa Gabor whose... bosom... was ample in those days, and (it) was hanging out of her dress. And of course it was 'Buzz'... 'Buzz' was an epicurean MASTER! He loved wine, and was a wine FANATIC! And I told you (in a previous conversation) that that's how I got him to do the show! A: Thirteen bottles! S: Thirteen bottles of Chateau LaFite 1941. ================= NOTE: Strong related to me briefly during our original phone conversation that he enticed Meredith to do SEARCH by offering him what Strong says were the last 13 bottles in existence of this exceptionally sought-after and very rare wine. It is now 32 years after the events of Strong's story, but at 'The Sixth International Wine, Spirits & Food Festival' at Donald Trump's exclusive Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach on March 24th, 2004, a single bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1941 was auctioned for charity for $2,000. See http://www.life-edu.org/wineauction.html for details. ================= S: I had them in my closet, which was the thing that he HATED most--that I could keep these in my closet and not give them to him. I (eventually) gave them to him... one-an-episode. A: The LAST 13 bottles if I remember correctly! S: The LAST 13 bottles! That is correct. And I paid an ungodly amount for them, believe me! (pauses) Where was I? ...Because I digressed on that... A: Talking about dinner... near Zsa Zsa... S: Yes! So (Meredith) got drunk and he said something about him doing something in television and (Meredith and Zsa Zsa) got in a fistfight... a foodfight... right in the middle of 'The Bistro.' Because he was proud of the show (SEARCH) and was proud of television... and told her to keep her disgusting bosom 'in its sheath.' A: (laughs) S: Anyway... the thing I thought you might like to know about the (PROBE) pilot was... during the second or third day of shooting, on one of the back lots, Hugh O'Brian was in the little Mexican village... in the Teaser. And he runs up the stairs and tears out the ligament in his right knee. A: In the very opening scene. S: Right. And we shot... Hugh O'Brian in the fight scenes... in a WHEELCHAIR... with a body double! A: Amazing! You'd never know it. S: Nope! A: Amazing. So, uh, Mr. Meredith was hired for the (PROBE) pilot in a pretty standard fashion? S: Yeah. A: And then you enticed him to do the series with that aid of the wine...? S: It was through his agent, Bullets Durgan... ======================== NOTE: I found two references on the web for Bullets Durgan. The first is in a CNN.com article about Jackie Gleason. Gleason's widow Marilyn mentions Durgan in passing as a one-time partner and manager of Jackie's. The link is at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0205/03/lkl.00.html The other concerns a story that voice artist/actor Gary Owens is relating where he refers to Durgan as being Frank Sinatra's 'head gofer.' That link's at: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22bullets+durgan%22&hl=en&lr=&selm=eK2Ba.1185\ 11%24823.104290%40news1.east.cox.net&rnum=1 ================= S: ... that I got (Meredith). I ran into Bullets up at Jack Warner's house, and I got Bullets as Buzz's agent. And then Bullets tried to get $75,000 an episode (for Meredith), and that's what I had (planned on paying) Burgess for the whole SERIES! A: (laughs) S: Okay? A: Right. S: So, uh... Bullets was holding firm, and I kept telling 'Buzz', "It's NOT going to happen--we don't have (that amount of money)." So, I figured I'd 'hand him the hook' by telling him that I was going to hire the guy from VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. What was his name? Dick Basehart. A: Richard Basehart... right. S: Right. I said, "Buzz! He LOOKS like you. He's a little more... virile..." A: (laughs) S: ... "and it's a SHAME to see all this Chateau LaFite go into Dick Bashart's palate!" A: (laughs) That cinched it! S: Bullets Durgan called me up and said, "You're cuttin' into my INCOME!" I said, "Look, Bullets... we're gonna shoot Burgess in one clump. He'll work ONE day a week. He'll get $7,500 an episode! It's like seven-thousand-five-hundred-thousand (dollars) a DAY! 'Buzz doesn't GET that (amount of money, normally). And... he's not exclusive! He can go and do whatever he wants!" A: Right. S: So... 'Buzz' took the show... and he was brilliant. A: He WAS brilliant. He tied everything together--he really did. S: Yup! A: And he worked a SINGLE day a week, is that correct? S: A single day a week. Right. A: Okay... maybe I misunderstood. I was thinking you mentioned in our previous conversation that Meredith worked THREE days a week--two days of which you shot him on the Probe Control set BY HIMSELF, and a single day was spent with the other actors on the Probe Control set. S: As a matter of fact, what we DID was, we shot 'BUZZ' a single day... A: Right. S: ... and had the other actors of Probe Control... but the times that we shot 'Buzz' we had him for a couple of extra days as well... but to shoot HIM. A: Right. S: Like the close-ups. (And the sequences ) where he'd go, (does an absolutely dead-on impersonation of Meredith's irritated bark) "LOCKWOOD! LOCKWOOD!!! A: (laughs) Usually at the end of the episode... S: Exactly. Right. END OF PART ONE 2875 From: Martin Parrott Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:43am Subject: Re: John C. Strong interview--Part One parrott76262 Jim, I wouldn't change a thing. I personally appreciate the 'Notes'. Many thanks again for your hard work on this. Martin Jim Alexander wrote: > Here's the first 'installment' of my interview with John Christopher Strong. It was conducted on October 12th, 2004 at 12:35pm CST. > > Perhaps I've taken a bit too long in transcribing and posting this first segment, but Strong mentions people and places on which I wished to acquire a bit of information before I related them. Not only did I wish to spell their names properly (Did Strong say the man's name was 'Jurgen' or 'Dirkin' or 'Durgan'?), but I also desired a bit of historical reference, myself. Not only did I NOT live in Los Angeles in the 1970's when these events that Strong is relating take place... but I've never even been to Los Angeles. So I had no idea what/where 'The Bistro' was that Strong mentioned. Perhaps you'll be 'in the same boat' with me when you read this? If no one desires the 'NOTES' I've littered about the transcription, please let me know on or off-list, and if there's a consensus, I'll modify future installments accordingly. :) And if I've made any mistakes/misspellings regarding people or places.. I hope you'll let me know. > > Enjoy-- > > Jim Alexander > probecontrol@... > 2876 From: "dghprobe3" Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:47am Subject: Re: John C. Strong interview--Part One dghprobe3 Hi Jim: So far, so good (the title of Burgess Meredith's autobiography) on the John C. Strong interview. We're getting some behind-the-scenes info we've never heard before. Can't wait to read the next installments. :-) Probably in the future, you could get Mr. Strong to spell some of the more obscure names, etc.? Google searches on things like 'The Bistro' and some of the other names can yield a lot of info, as you've found. :-) --Don 2877 From: "Skip Brown" Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:21am Subject: RE: John C. Strong interview--Part One skipster61 Excellent Job so far, Jim... I am almost imagining the dialogue being played as a director commentary audio track on a DVD.... Your little web notes and and side comments, could be little pop ups, like Mike Okuda's comments on the Star Trek movies, and ST:TOS DVDs... Mike, could Jim be putting you out of a job? :) Skip -----Original Message----- From: Jim Alexander [mailto:probecontrol@...] Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 12:19 AM To: probe_control@yahoogroups.com Subject: [probe_control] John C. Strong interview--Part One Here's the first 'installment' of my interview with John Christopher Strong. It was conducted on October 12th, 2004 at 12:35pm CST. Perhaps I've taken a bit too long in transcribing and posting this first segment, but Strong mentions people and places on which I wished to acquire a bit of information before I related them. 2878 From: Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 7:33pm Subject: OT: THE NIGHT STALKER: Remade? probecontrol Since we were talking about this on the list the other week... From tvguideonline's 'SHORT CUTS' news: -------- "Former X-Files producer-scribe Frank Spotnitz is developing a fresh take on the '70s cult classic Kolchak: The Night Stalker for ABC, Variety reports." -------- If Spotnitz is involved... it might be pretty cool. I know, I know... NO ONE could ever play KOLCHAK but McGavin... but I'd still like to see what they do with it. :) Jim Alexander 2879 From: Martin Parrott Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 7:39pm Subject: Re: OT: THE NIGHT STALKER: Remade? parrott76262 I loved Kokchak! I hope it stays true to the original formula. Martin probecontrol@... wrote: > Since we were talking about this on the list the other week... > >>From tvguideonline's 'SHORT CUTS' news: > > -------- > "Former X-Files producer-scribe Frank Spotnitz is developing > a fresh take on the '70s cult classic Kolchak: The Night > Stalker for ABC, Variety reports." > -------- > > If Spotnitz is involved... it might be pretty cool. I know, > I know... NO ONE could ever play KOLCHAK but McGavin... but > I'd still like to see what they do with it. :) > > Jim Alexander 2880 From: Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 8:03pm Subject: "Skip" Skips' comments about Mike! ;) probecontrol >... Excellent Job so far, Jim... =============== Thanks very much, Skip! :) =============== >... I am almost imagining the dialogue being played as a director commentary audio track on a DVD.... Your little web notes and and side comments, could be little pop ups, like Mike Okuda's comments on the Star Trek movies, and ST:TOS DVDs... =============== And can I say HOW TERRIBLY MUCH I've been enjoying those Okuda comments!?! Absolutely FASCINATING--and I've been a H- U-G-E TREK fan (especially for the CLASSIC series) since it was on NBC! A wonderful, wonderful job, Mike! =============== >... Mike, could Jim be putting you out of a job? :) =============== Belay that kind'a talk, Skip!!! Not in THIS universe! But there's always... the MIRROR universe. Hmmmmmmmmm... ;) Jim 2881 From: "Marta Dawes" Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 8:36pm Subject: RE: John C. Strong interview--Part One martadawes Very entertaining, Jim! He sounds like he really knows the show, and his stories about Burgess Meredith are wonderful. The annotations help place people, and I would say they're necessary. Thank you for taking the time to write this all up and do the research. Marta http://www.steveandmarta.com Home of "The Graveyards of Omaha" and "The New Twilight Zone" websites. See the 2004 TZ Convention page! "There are things that we know, and then there are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know that we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know. . . . That is, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. . . . Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist." From Donald Rumsfeld, who spends his time in the Twilight Zone. -----Original Message----- From: Jim Alexander [mailto:probecontrol@...] Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 11:19 PM To: probe_control@yahoogroups.com Subject: [probe_control] John C. Strong interview--Part One Here's the first 'installment' of my interview with John Christopher Strong. It was conducted on October 12th, 2004 at 12:35pm CST. Perhaps I've taken a bit too long in transcribing and posting this first segment, but Strong mentions people and places on which I wished to acquire a bit of information before I related them. Not only did I wish to spell their names properly (Did Strong say the man's name was 'Jurgen' or 'Dirkin' or 'Durgan'?), but I also desired a bit of historical reference, myself. Not only did I NOT live in Los Angeles in the 1970's when these events that Strong is relating take place... but I've never even been to Los Angeles. So I had no idea what/where 'The Bistro' was that Strong mentioned. Perhaps you'll be 'in the same boat' with me when you read this? If no one desires the 'NOTES' I've littered about the transcription, please let me know on or off-list, and if there's a consensus, I'll modify future installments accordingly. :) And if I've made any mistakes/misspellings regarding people or places.. I hope you'll let me know. Enjoy-- Jim Alexander probecontrol@... ==================================================== S: Hello? A: Mr. Strong! Jim Alexander here, sir. S: Hi, Jim. How are you? A: Doing well. I hope YOU are, today? S: I am indeed. A: Good. Do you have time to talk, sir? S: Sure. Why not? A: I've had people e-mailing me questions for you literally from all around the world, and they're pretty enthusiastic. Let's start right out. Can you give us an overview of your early Hollywood career, and what led to your involvement in the PROBE pilot? S: Um. Let's see. Leslie Stevens and I were partners. We'd done a show called NAME OF THE GAME... (and) STONEY BURKE and THE OUTER LIMITS. Um, and we'd done a show called McCLOUD--I don't know if you remember that. A: I remember every show you're talking about--even STONEY BURKE with Jack Lord. S: Jack Lord, Warren Oates, Bob Dowdell, Bruce Dern... and uh, we were best friends... and we developed the 'Four In One' concept called THE WORLD PREMIERE at NBC/Universal, of which McCLOUD was a part of, if you remember. A: Correct. McCLOUD pre-dated SEARCH. S: That's correct. Then, after McCLOUD was on the air, we left Universal, and we had done a show called... we had (unintelligible) a show called '1999', which in those days, uh... this was '71... '70. And, uh... it evolved into SEARCH. A: '1999' evolved into SEARCH. Interesting! How different WAS the concept of '1999' from what we ultimately know as SEARCH? S: A lot. A lot. WORLD SECURITIES was an 'overview' of what the world needed--what WE thought the world needed; we had done a lot of things... we'd created something called EARTHSIDE MISSILE BASE where we took a missile silo in Sacremento and turned it into an Ecology Center. We had done a lot of strange things because we believed in different things. We thought the world needed a concept of 'security' where people, uh... would literally, uh... it looked like an Insurance Company... would be a Security Company. A: A 'front?' S: Pardon me? A: Some sort of a 'front?' S: Yeah. Like a front. A: Gotcha. So, with WORLD SECURITIES and '1999' the concept kind of developed into SEARCH. S: It developed into PROBE. A: Sure. The pilot film's original title. S: That was based on the fact that the Probe (agent) would be someone who would go into a place where nobody else could go. A: Right. Which leads me into a question I just thought of. Stevens, or whoever, came up with the concept of P.R.O.B.E.--the first three letters of which stood for "Programmed Retrieval Operations." It was never revealed what the letters 'B' and 'E' stood for. Any clue as to what (those letters) may have meant? (chuckles) S: (chuckles) I think you're reading more into than we ever had. A: It's always been one of those 'nagging' questions that fans of the series had wondered about. S: We never had it. A: Well, THERE'S a definitive answer, then! (laughs) So your friendship with Mr. Stevens--as well as the talent you brought to the project--led you to work on the pilot film PROBE. Did your responsibilities change from what they were during the pilot, when it became a series? S: Uh, no. I was in charge of, uh... reviews of the screenplays, rewriting them with Leslie... writing ONE of the screenplays called 'In Search of Midas'... then I directed all the Second Unit, and designed the show. A: Right. You co-authored 'Midas' with Michael Stein. S: Mike Stein, yeah. An old buddy of mine. He actually didn't do any of the writing... A: (chuckles) S: ... but, at the time he had cancer, and I thought I'd... share some wealth. A: Understood. So you said your responsibilities were rather far-reaching with regards to the PROBE pilot. You had a lot of input, or actually came up with the design of the Scanners, uh... S: Everything! A: Everything! S: Yeah. I even, uh... in the pilot, Dominic (Frontiere--who scored the show) was doing a Main Title Sequence with music (hums the first few seconds of the SEARCH theme song, note-for-note)... you know that tune? A: Absolutely. Unforgettable. S: (chuckles) And I designed the Main Title Sequence with the 'diamonds'. I got, I believe it was Harry Winston... =============== NOTE: Harry Winston was a jeweler for TV shows and movies for 40 years. More recently, he supplied the jewels for Peter Hyam's 'The Musketeer' in 2001. His imdb listing is: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0935588/ ================ A: ... or somebody... to get me some big stones. And I shot that with a Questar 1500 millimeter lens, which no one had ever used before in movies, to get that close to them, to make them absolutely dazzling. A: I remember those shots. They actually went in and out of focus. Beautiful! S: That's correct. A: When the PROBE pilot was retitled SEARCH, and ran in syndication packages, that particular footage was actually used full-screen, going in and out of commercials. S: Right. That's correct. A: I don't know if they were used in the same fashion during the pilot's original network airing, but that's the way it appeared in syndication. S: And what I tried to do... and of course Leslie (Stevens) gave me a full hand because he was doin' HIS deal, and I did MINE... A: And what was HIS deal, basically? S: He would be rewriting most scripts, and I would be rewriting the OTHER ones. A: Gotcha. S: We had LOTS of writers, and LOTS of directors, and we had an 'impossible' show to create because... I shot 'Probe Control' one day a week... and on the days we bunched the shows together. Okay? That's how I got 'Buzz' (Strong's nickname for Meredith) to do the show. A: Understood. Your nickname for Burgess Meredith was 'Buzz'? S: That's right. He was a wonderful guy. A: I'd like to hear more about him. S: Well... you know 'Buzz' was an ecology wonder-boy. He used to hang out with Barbara Birdfeather... =============== NOTE: A google search for 'Barbara Birdfeather' indicates the individual that Meredith spent time with was either a popular L.A. Disc Jockey at the time (see http://www.laradio.com/whereb.htm) or my guess: an Astrologer/Author of the book "The Birdfeather Astrological Space Books: Tales of the Universe", published in 1969 =============== A: ... and the (unintelligible) Masters down in Malibu. He was just the most wonderful man that ever walked! A: Kind of a "renaissance man"...? S: He was INDEED A renaissance man. His IQ was up in the 160s', and he was something very special. Anyway, 'Buzz' was very pragmatic. He said, "Ah! The show will never get picked up! It's too good! It's got too much quality, blah, blah, blah." (pauses) Then I'll tell you about the PROBE pilot in a minute--there's something I remembered that would be of interest to you. A: Great! S: Anyway, I told him, "Don't worry. We'll get picked up." So he says, "I'll bet you a dinner at the best restaurant in town," which at the time was 'The Bistro' here in Los Angeles. ================ NOTE: In this web column, 'CONNIE MARTINSON TALKS BOOKS' dated 8/30/2000, Martinson writes: "It was the restaurant people went to when they wanted to feel important or beautiful. It wasn't always easy to get a reservation but then that was what made it seem so special. The restaurant was 'The Bistro' on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills, and the ring master/owner was Kurt Niklas. 'The Bistro' gave birth to 'The Bistro Gardens' down the road and to 'The Bistro Gardens at Coldwater'." A link can be found at: http://www.conniemartinson.com/CMTB/004.html ================= S: So, for 'Buzz' to spend money was like pinching... A: (laughs) S: ... pinching. (chuckles) So anyway, we went to 'The Bistro' with my wife at the time, and 'Buzz' was there alone... and we were sitting next to Zsa Zsa Gabor whose... bosom... was ample in those days, and (it) was hanging out of her dress. And of course it was 'Buzz'... 'Buzz' was an epicurean MASTER! He loved wine, and was a wine FANATIC! And I told you (in a previous conversation) that that's how I got him to do the show! A: Thirteen bottles! S: Thirteen bottles of Chateau LaFite 1941. ================= NOTE: Strong related to me briefly during our original phone conversation that he enticed Meredith to do SEARCH by offering him what Strong says were the last 13 bottles in existence of this exceptionally sought-after and very rare wine. It is now 32 years after the events of Strong's story, but at 'The Sixth International Wine, Spirits & Food Festival' at Donald Trump's exclusive Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach on March 24th, 2004, a single bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1941 was auctioned for charity for $2,000. See http://www.life-edu.org/wineauction.html for details. ================= S: I had them in my closet, which was the thing that he HATED most--that I could keep these in my closet and not give them to him. I (eventually) gave them to him... one-an-episode. A: The LAST 13 bottles if I remember correctly! S: The LAST 13 bottles! That is correct. And I paid an ungodly amount for them, believe me! (pauses) Where was I? ...Because I digressed on that... A: Talking about dinner... near Zsa Zsa... S: Yes! So (Meredith) got drunk and he said something about him doing something in television and (Meredith and Zsa Zsa) got in a fistfight... a foodfight... right in the middle of 'The Bistro.' Because he was proud of the show (SEARCH) and was proud of television... and told her to keep her disgusting bosom 'in its sheath.' A: (laughs) S: Anyway... the thing I thought you might like to know about the (PROBE) pilot was... during the second or third day of shooting, on one of the back lots, Hugh O'Brian was in the little Mexican village... in the Teaser. And he runs up the stairs and tears out the ligament in his right knee. A: In the very opening scene. S: Right. And we shot... Hugh O'Brian in the fight scenes... in a WHEELCHAIR... with a body double! A: Amazing! You'd never know it. S: Nope! A: Amazing. So, uh, Mr. Meredith was hired for the (PROBE) pilot in a pretty standard fashion? S: Yeah. A: And then you enticed him to do the series with that aid of the wine...? S: It was through his agent, Bullets Durgan... ======================== NOTE: I found two references on the web for Bullets Durgan. The first is in a CNN.com article about Jackie Gleason. Gleason's widow Marilyn mentions Durgan in passing as a one-time partner and manager of Jackie's. The link is at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0205/03/lkl.00.html The other concerns a story that voice artist/actor Gary Owens is relating where he refers to Durgan as being Frank Sinatra's 'head gofer.' That link's at: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22bullets+durgan%22&hl=en&lr=&selm=eK 2Ba.118511%24823.104290%40news1.east.cox.net&rnum=1 ================= S: ... that I got (Meredith). I ran into Bullets up at Jack Warner's house, and I got Bullets as Buzz's agent. And then Bullets tried to get $75,000 an episode (for Meredith), and that's what I had (planned on paying) Burgess for the whole SERIES! A: (laughs) S: Okay? A: Right. S: So, uh... Bullets was holding firm, and I kept telling 'Buzz', "It's NOT going to happen--we don't have (that amount of money)." So, I figured I'd 'hand him the hook' by telling him that I was going to hire the guy from VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. What was his name? Dick Basehart. A: Richard Basehart... right. S: Right. I said, "Buzz! He LOOKS like you. He's a little more... virile..." A: (laughs) S: ... "and it's a SHAME to see all this Chateau LaFite go into Dick Bashart's palate!" A: (laughs) That cinched it! S: Bullets Durgan called me up and said, "You're cuttin' into my INCOME!" I said, "Look, Bullets... we're gonna shoot Burgess in one clump. He'll work ONE day a week. He'll get $7,500 an episode! It's like seven-thousand-five-hundred-thousand (dollars) a DAY! 'Buzz doesn't GET that (amount of money, normally). And... he's not exclusive! He can go and do whatever he wants!" A: Right. S: So... 'Buzz' took the show... and he was brilliant. A: He WAS brilliant. He tied everything together--he really did. S: Yup! A: And he worked a SINGLE day a week, is that correct? S: A single day a week. Right. A: Okay... maybe I misunderstood. I was thinking you mentioned in our previous conversation that Meredith worked THREE days a week--two days of which you shot him on the Probe Control set BY HIMSELF, and a single day was spent with the other actors on the Probe Control set. S: As a matter of fact, what we DID was, we shot 'BUZZ' a single day... A: Right. S: ... and had the other actors of Probe Control... but the times that we shot 'Buzz' we had him for a couple of extra days as well... but to shoot HIM. A: Right. S: Like the close-ups. (And the sequences ) where he'd go, (does an absolutely dead-on impersonation of Meredith's irritated bark) "LOCKWOOD! LOCKWOOD!!! A: (laughs) Usually at the end of the episode... S: Exactly. Right. END OF PART ONE 2882 From: "holmes_ivd" Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 6:32pm Subject: Latest Barbara Luna/Malachi Throne project holmes_ivd I'm rather surprised that no one has brought this up already, seeing the general interest level in these two actors in this group. Barbara Luna, Malachi Throne and William Windom all participated in the latest episode of Star Trek: New Voyages, titled "In Harm's Way". Downloads are available at: www.newvoyages.com The production quality, sets, costumes, props and effects are amazingly good, considering. The regular actors need work, but... hey, it's for fun and love...not $$. Check it out! Michael W. Annis... "Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem." 2883 From: "Mike" Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:21pm Subject: Scanner comparison kc8nqa Offline Send Email Hello ALL, In response to the Scanner comparison question, Here is a pic to compare. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/ohitsjustme/ScannerCom1.jpg I will be putting one of the two I have on ebay within the next couple days. Thankz, kc8nqa 2884 From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Fri Oct 15, 2004 1:57am Subject: OT: STAR TREK: New Voyages probecontrol > I'm rather surprised that no one has brought this up already, seeing > the general interest level in these two actors in this group. > > Barbara Luna, Malachi Throne and William Windom all participated in > the latest episode of Star Trek: New Voyages, titled "In Harm's Way". > > Downloads are available at: > > www.newvoyages.com > > The production quality, sets, costumes, props and effects are > amazingly good, considering. The regular actors need work, but... > hey, it's for fun and love...not $$. Check it out! > > Michael W. Annis... ============================== Thanks for pointing these out, Michael. I LOVE the 'New Voyages' stuff! Any TREK fan fan who hasn't already checked out these two 'new' Classic Trek episodes... SHOULD! They're lovingly and paintstakingly crafted, and enormous FUN! Jim Alexander 2885 From: yorktowncmdr@... Date: Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:20pm Subject: Re: OT: THE NIGHT STALKER: Remade? worldsecanalyst There is a legitimate Night Stalker novelization called "Grave Secrets" by Mark Dawidziak. He has published two books about the novel, movies, and series. Mark is a columnist for the Cleveland "Plain Dealer". Actually there were two Night Stalker projects under consideration. First, during the late 90s Universal considered remaking a movie casting Jeff Goodblum as Carl Kolchak. Goodblum was asking for too much for the part. Second, plans for an audio series were well underway before Darren McGavin suffered his stroke in 1999. The attack impaired his speaking ability as a consequence. > > > I loved Kokchak! I hope it stays true to the original formula. > > Martin > > "X Files" Chris Carter was a "Night Stalker" afficionado. He was begging Darren McGavin to take a part in the series. Personally, I can see him playing the part of Jose Chung. He relented to play the Arthur Dales part. David 2886 From: "Skip Brown" Date: Fri Oct 15, 2004 3:22am Subject: RE: "Skip" Skips' comments about Mike! ;) skipster61 LOL... With tongue firmly planted in cheek, I bow to my better. :) Especially, loved the subject line. Touché Skip -----Original Message----- From: probecontrol@... [mailto:probecontrol@...] Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 4:03 PM To: probe_control@yahoogroups.com Subject: [probe_control] "Skip" Skips' comments about Mike! ;) >... Excellent Job so far, Jim... =============== Thanks very much, Skip! :) =============== >... I am almost imagining the dialogue being played as a director commentary audio track on a DVD.... Your little web notes and and side comments, could be little pop ups, like Mike Okuda's comments on the Star Trek movies, and ST:TOS DVDs... =============== And can I say HOW TERRIBLY MUCH I've been enjoying those Okuda comments!?! Absolutely FASCINATING--and I've been a H- U-G-E TREK fan (especially for the CLASSIC series) since it was on NBC! A wonderful, wonderful job, Mike! =============== >... Mike, could Jim be putting you out of a job? :) =============== Belay that kind'a talk, Skip!!! Not in THIS universe! But there's always... the MIRROR universe. Hmmmmmmmmm... ;) Jim 2887 From: "Skip Brown" Date: Fri Oct 15, 2004 3:30am Subject: RE: Latest Barbara Luna/Malachi Throne project skipster61 Oh my goodness, I was just there for the first time last night (the New Voyages site) and I saw that Malachi Throne was involved. I wondered if any of my few PROBE enthusiasts would be interested, but I kinda shrugged it off. You're right on the money about the production. It looks amateurish at times, but then, it was made by amateurs on a fan budget. I applaud them especially on the plot of the first episode, and the detail put into designing the bridge of the U.S.S. .... well, I am not going to say.... but you have to check it out. Its not the familiar starship that we all know, but there is a huge plot twist that explains why. If they keep up the work, they can only get better! (Case and point, look at the Next Generations first and second season, compared with any of them from there on out).. Hmmmm.... maybe we can make a fan version of SEARCH.... :) Skip -----Original Message----- From: holmes_ivd [mailto:holmes_ivd@...] Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 2:33 PM To: probe_control@yahoogroups.com Subject: [probe_control] Latest Barbara Luna/Malachi Throne project I'm rather surprised that no one has brought this up already, seeing the general interest level in these two actors in this group. Barbara Luna, Malachi Throne and William Windom all participated in the latest episode of Star Trek: New Voyages, titled "In Harm's Way". Downloads are available at: www.newvoyages.com The production quality, sets, costumes, props and effects are amazingly good, considering. The regular actors need work, but... hey, it's for fun and love...not $$. Check it out! Michael W. Annis... "Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem." 2888 From: "dghprobe3" Date: Fri Oct 15, 2004 4:58am Subject: Re: Darren McGavin, Franciosa, L. Stevens dghprobe3 --- In probe_control, yorktowncmdr@a... wrote: > Second, plans for an audio series were well underway before Darren > McGavin suffered his stroke in 1999. The attack impaired his > speaking ability as a consequence. Hi: And thanks for the info above, sad news though it is. Some of us were hoping McGavin would have been able to do a commentary over the first "Night Stalker" movie, or at least an interview featurette if they ever release the Kolchak series on DVD. That leaves basically Jack Grinnage and some of the other surviving members of cast and crew to do interviews and such. Unless Universal can find any old taped interviews with McGavin discussing the show. Somewhere I have on video a 1987 interview McGavin did on the Dr. Ruth show, and he discussed Kolchak. I was thinking of posting mp3 audios of it to my "Name of the Game" Yahoo group in the near future, as McGavin guest starred a number of times on "Game." One of those episodes was the 1968 Tony Franciosa episode "Shine On, Shine On, Jesse Gil," and it was directed by "Search" creator Leslie Stevens. In that same ep, Gypsy Rose Lee played a Washington hostess very similar to Rhonda Fleming's character in the "Search" ep "The Clayton Lewis Document." Another McGavin "Game" episode was "Goodbye Harry," which was written and produced by Gene L. Coon of Star Trek. That episode also featured actor Dane Clark, who played Probe agent Ed Bain in "24 Carat Hit." --Don H. 2889 From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Fri Oct 15, 2004 6:02am Subject: John C. Strong interview--Part Two probecontrol BEGINNING OF PART TWO A: You've related a bit about Mr. Meredith. Could you talk about the hiring of 'The Big Three' and tell us little about what they were like, please? S: Okay, uh... A: O'Brian owned part of the show, correct? S: No. He didn't own anything. A: Okay. S: Not that I've ever known. A: I thought that that was mentioned during a TV GUIDE interview, but perhaps that wasn't correct. S: Well. Not that I know. Okay? Neither Tony, not Hugh, nor Doug owned anything. A: Understood. So how were they brought into the project? S: We hired Hugh O'Brian, uh... for the pilot. I had known 'Huge' before... we called him 'Huge', H-U-G-E... A: (laughs) Was he looking to expand after WYATT EARP, perhaps? S: Yeah. I knew him over at Ziv, when he was doing WYATT EARP over there when I was a kid, working for a guy named Dave Unger. A: ZIV Studios. Right. ================= NOTE: Ziv Studios were located in West Hollywood. Purchased in 1954, Ziv was formerly Hollywood's Eagle Lion studios which had been built on the old Grand National Studios site. Ziv was also a TV Production and Syndication Company, and was apparently the most prolific producer of TV programming for the first-run syndication market during the 1950s. Ziv Television Programs occupies a unique niche in the history of U.S. television. Bypassing the networks and major national sponsors, Ziv rose to prominence by marketing its series to local and regional sponsors, who placed them on local stations, generally in time slots outside of prime time. Using this strategy, Ziv produced several popular and long-lived series, including The Cisco Kid (1949-56), Highway Patrol (1955-59), and Sea Hunt (1957-61). The 1956 and 1957 Seasons of 'The Adventures of Superman' were also filmed at ZIV. There is more about Ziv at http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/Z/htmlZ/zivtelevisio/zivtelevisio.htm ================ S: Yup. Ziv Studios. A: That goes way back. S: Right. And we always liked 'Huge', and um... we thought it'd be different casting, because he was ALWAYS a very smooth guy. But he had a rough edge. Y'know? Even in WYATT EARP you could see that. He had a charm, and kind've a DANGEROUS quality to him, and of course, he was kind of a romantic leading man. And he was a tougher. What we were looking for was a 'tougher' Cary Grant. A: Was anyone else ever considered for the role? S: Uh... John Gavin. =================== NOTE: Leonard Maltin writes the following about Gavin in his 'Movie Encyclopedia': "He lost on-screen lover Janet Leigh to a madman's knife in Psycho (1960), scarcely batting an eye upon hearing the news. And that was probably his best screen performance! A stoic, handsome but colorless leading man whose first film was Behind the High Wall (1956), Gavin served for a time as president of the Screen Actors Guild, one of his more noteworthy Hollywood roles. His first major lead, in the classic weepie Imitation of Life (1959), led to his appearances in Psycho and Spartacus the following year. He also starred in two failed TV series, "Destry" (1964) and "Convoy" (1965), before leaving show business for politics; during the Reagan administration he served as the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico." Gavin apparently returned to acting post-politics. His last screen credit is from 1997. Here's his imdb listing: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001260/ =================== S: Remember him? A: Yes. He was in PSYCHO, and ended up going into politics, didn't he? S: Yes. But he was a wonderful actor in Universal pictures. A: A very handsome gentleman; ended up being an ambassador, I believe. S: He ended up being the United States Ambassador to Mexico. ==================== NOTE: Gavin's mother was of Mexican descent, and he grew up completely bilingual in English and Spanish. See http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001260/bio for more details ==================== A: Right. So Gavin was considered. Anyone else besides Gavin? S: No, not really strongly. John Gavin was the most popular amongst us, but he didn't have the same type of TVQ that Hugh O'Brian had. ==================== NOTE: 'TVQ' is a reference to techniques used to measure the likeability and popularity of (among other things) a particular television performer. From Wikipedia: "The Q Score is a way to measure the familiarity and appeal of a brand, company, celebrity, cartoon character or television show. The higher the Q Score, the more well-known and well thought of the item or person being scored is. The Q Score is primarily used by the marketing, advertising and public relations industries. Sometimes the term Q score is used in popular discussions of a person or product's overall fame, popularity, or likeability. Other popular synonyms include Q rating, Q factor, or simply Q. The Q Score was developed in 1963 by Marketing Evaluations, Inc., a United States company based in Manhasset, New York. To calculate someone or something's Q Score, Marketing Evaluations surveys a panel of US consumer households about their awareness and opinion of that person or thing. Two factors influence the Q Score: the number of people who are aware of the product in question, and the number of people who claim that product as one of their favorites. ==================== A: Understood. Was anyone else ever considered for the 'McClure' or 'Franciosa' roles? S: Well we'd just finished doing THE VIRGINIAN with Doug McClure... A: Right. S: And we did NAME OF THE GAME with Tony... and Tony was Best Man at two of my weddings. A: Was that before (SEARCH), during... or AFTER, I guess... S: During and after. A: Right. S: And when we were doing NAME OF THE GAME, he was of course, our star... A: Right. S: And basically, we put (SEARCH) up like the same McCLOUD, COLUMBO concept for the series. To have a star-a-week alternating. A: So you were looking for three rotating leads. Was a FOURTH ever considered? S: No. A: Okay. Just three. S: Just three. A: Gotcha. Working with Franciosa, who you were obviously the closest to, it seems... S: I was the 'closest' to 'Huge', Doug AND Tony... A: Oh, well! What was Franciosa like? Did he have a hard edge--like the one he brought to his character? S: Anthony Franciosa... happens to be the sweetest, most WONDERFUL man... A: (chuckles) S: ... I, I gotta tell'ya... um... They were ALL wonderful. Uh, Tony... One of the times he was Best Man at one of my weddings... we were at the Bel Air Hotel... ================== NOTE: Citysearch says this about the Hotel Bel-Air: Hotel Bel-Air, at 701 Stone Canyon Rd in Los Angeles "is perhaps L.A.'s preeminent luxury accommodation. Hotel Bel-Air has been a haven for society dowagers and paparazzi-scorning celebrities since opening in 1940. Oil baron and Bel-Air Estates founder Alphonso E. Bell originally constructed the building for office space. Years later, it was converted into this grand estate worthy of a multimillion-dollar tycoon. Guests enter via a miniature bridge which crosses the hotel's signature Swan Lake; cascading waterfalls and a crowning bell tower complete the idyllic serenity. Inside, antique fixtures and French countryside furnishings will make any plebeian feel like royalty. Sprawled over 11 lushly landscaped acres, the hotel offers much-welcomed privacy." A link directly to the hotel can be found at: http://www.hotelbelair.com/hotelbelair.html I am guessing that actual Hotel Bel-Air's pool area was used as a key backdrop for Doug McClure's first SEARCH episode, "Short Circuit", written by show creator Leslie Stevens. More on that, below. ===================== S: ... and he brought his son Christopher, and right before the wedding, one of the swans at Swan Lake pecked Christopher right on the nose, and we had to stop the wedding for awhile to get Christopher's nose fixed. A: (laughs) S: But, uh... Tony was a consummate professional. He was an absolute stickler... if he respected you. Okay? A: Right. S: I know that (on) many of the shows that he did before, that he was considered 'trouble'... A: He comes off as kind of a 'rascal' in interviews... yes. (chuckles) S: Yes. (But) never ONCE with me! As long as he knew I was there... A: Right... S: ...WITH him, at 6am... A: Right... S: ... and (I) was looking to make sure that HIS performance was at its BEST... that he LOOKED his best... and that he was being PRESENTED in his best light... he would do ANYTHING for me. A: You had his best interests in mind, and he respected that. S: Yeah. And you know what? ALL those guys (presumably referring to O'Brian, McClure and Franciosa)... MY responsibility was making sure they LOOKED their best and DID their best. And THEIR responsibility was making sure they LOOKED their best and DID their best... because THAT'S THEIR CAREER. A: Right. S: Y'know, filmmakers... See, I used to be an actor in FRONT of the screen... So when I did the same thing, I didn't have somebody like ME there to help me. A: It was all up to you. S: ... All up to me. And when I got divorced three times... I gotta tell'ya something... it was TOUGH goin', so I stared making movies... and television. A: (Television) couldn't have been much EASIER! That's hard work, too! S: Right! (laughs) The kids... Cheryl Stoppelmoor... ===================== NOTE: Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor was the birth name of actress Cheryl Ladd, who played Probe Control technician "Miss Love." ====================== A: Cheryl Stoppelmoor. Cheryl Ladd. Right. S: Stoppelmoor. Right. She turned into Cheryl Ladd when she married a friend of mine--David Ladd. A. Martinez... Ginny Golden... Byron Chung... They were all wonderful kids, and wonderful people. A: And they WERE all 'kids' at the time, WEREN'T they? S: Right. A: I spoke with Ginny Golden a couple of years ago. She's very sweet. S: She's the most WONDERFUL girl! She went to India, and became a... I think she's a Suvi (sp?) Priestess, or whatever she is now. But she's a WONDERFUL girl! Uh... Elke (Sommer, who played "Heideline 'Uli' Ullman" in the PROBE pilot)... Angel (Tompkins, who played 'Gloria Harding' in the PROBE pilot and SEARCH series)... I mean you COULDN'T have asked to be put in a (better) situation. We even started Jaclyn Smith's career! A: Right! She was in the pilot as an airline stewardess! S: Right! Her first words were, "Would you like WHITE wine, or RED?" A: (laughs) You have an excellent memory! (pauses) A bit of trivia I'd like to discuss with you... Burgess Meredith's character is referred to in the show and in the paperback novelizations as 'V.C.R. Cameron.' Now, we have scans of the show's actual prop I.D. badges, and it lists (Cameron's) first name as 'John', and his job 'Position' as 'V.C.R.', which apparently refers to his job title. Can you recall what 'V.C.R.' stood for? S: Uh... (pauses)... three letters. A: Correct. S: That's it. A: (laughs loudly) So you're saying it's a little enigmatic, them? S: You know what? A: What? S: ... It sounded mysterious... A: Yes? S: ... official... A: Yes? S: ... and highly secret. A: Okay! So it's kind of like the 'B.E.' in P.R.O.B.E.... It's just kind of 'dangled' there. S: It's kind of 'dangled' there. A: Enticingly. S: That's right. A: All right. Very good. S: It keeps the audience... wondering. A: Understood. S: And unless you can keep your audience... intrigued... and (let them) have their own questions... they shouldn't lose interest, and, uh... we hopefully haven't done that. A: Well that 'shouldn't lose interest' is the reason why I'm talking to you, today. (laughs) And I represent a lot of 'interested' people, believe me! S: Okay! A: McClure did seven SEARCH episodes, compared to O'Brian's and Franciosa's eight (episodes). Was there another McClure episode planned, or was that simply, "you filled your (episode) order and somebody had to lose out?" S: Somebody had to lose out. A: Understood. S: Of the episodes... Doug's were the weakest. A: Hmmmm. S: Because he didn't have a romantic interest like Angel Tompkins... he was young and wild and... crazy. He was like our 'Kookie.' ================ NOTE: When he mentions 'Kookie', Strong is making a comparison between Doug McClure's 'C.R. Grover' SEARCH character and a similar one in the TV series 77 SUNSET STRIP where actor Edd Byrnes played a character called "Gerald "Kookie" Kookson III" from 1958 until 1963. 'Kookie' was the youngest cast member in a show about Private Eye firm, and he very successfully appealed to a more youthful audience who watched the show. ================ A: Well... he certainly had a likable quality, and perhaps that made up for what you called the 'weaker' episodes. In fact, my personal favorite episode has always been 'Short Circuit'. As a kid, it appealed to me because it dealt with an element that was a bit more 'fantastic'--the Mega-Trans Package. S: That's right. I directed all of Doug's ADR... (and I) changed his performance in that episode. =============== NOTE: ADR stands for Automated (or Automatic) Dialog Replacement. Dialog that cannot be salvaged from production tracks (meaning audio that has not been recorded clearly; for instance--an airplane flying overhead during a scene where two actors are speaking to one another) must be rerecorded in a process called looping, or ADR. Looping originally involved recording an actor who spoke lines in sync to "loops" of the image which were played over and over along with matching lengths of recording tape. ADR, though faster, is still painstaking work. An actor watches the image repeatedly while listening to the original production track on headphones as a guide. The actor then reperforms each line to match the wording and lip movements. Actors vary in their ability to achieve sync and to recapture the emotional tone of their performance. Some prefer it. Marion Brando, for instance, liked to loop because he didn't like to freeze a performance until he knew its final context. See: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/4394/sync.htm for more details. Clearly put, Strong was stating that he 'shaped and modified' McClure's performance during the ADR session for the 'Short Circuit' episode. =============== S: ... made it better. I directed the Second Unit for it... put all the action 'beats' in it... believe me, it was... (pauses)... (McClure's) episodes weren't, I shouldn't say 'weaker', but weren't as well received, ratings-wise. A: That's another question I had. Which actor from the 'rotating three' scored higher? Was it O'Brian, then Franciosa, then McClure? S: O'Brian's and Tony's used to score highest. A: McClure's didn't score as high. Interesting. Well, Jeff Corey (who guest-starred in 'Short Circuit') was fun, and Gary Collins... S: Remember that upside-down shot going into the building right before the car chase? ======================= NOTE: Strong is referring to a relatively quick, but creative shot of actor Jeff Corey during the final scenes of 'Short Circuit'. Leading up to that shot, Corey is seen walking towards a structure--doubling as the World Securities building--in order to plant the Mega-Trans Package in the tunnels underneath. Then we see a shot of Grover's Corvette traveling towards the building in pursuit of Corey. CUT to a shot of Corey, whose image is upside-down--reflected in a pool of water, dotted with Lilly-Pads. When the camera tilts up, Corey's image is upright (since it's now an actual shot of Corey, and no longer a reflection) as he approaches a set of brick steps, presumably on the World Securities complex, in order to gain access to an above-ground service hatch, which leads below. ====================== A: I do. S: That was walking along by a pool. And I shot in the pool--his reflection--it looked like he was upside down, and I panned up to him walking away, and then Doug had the car chase... A: Correct. Very inventive! And you mentioned 'Swan Lake' earlier, too. You chose to involve that in 'Short Circuit' directly. The Bel-Air Hotel? ======================= NOTE: I was guessing--and Strong didn't correct me in my assumption--that the fictional 'Belmont Inn in Salisbury Hills' referred to in 'Short Circuit', is in fact a fictional name for the real-life 'Hotel Bel-Air' location where they may have filmed the hotel sequences. The fictional 'Belmont' location, as well as the real Hotel Bel-Air were BOTH known for their 'real, live swans' swimming in the garden. Images of the real Hotel Bel-Air 'Swan Lake' garden as well as the pool can both be seen here: http://www.elegantsmallhotel.com/hotels/esh48.html ======================== S: Yep. A: Cool. END OF PART TWO 2890 From: "Morningstar" Date: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17am Subject: Re: 'Thanks' to John C. Strong am2star I think that it would be great to send Mr. Strong a thank you. Perhaps we could take the "Search" logo and have it transferred to a plaque. I would think that something like that might ost around $20.00 or so, depending on how fancy. Does Mr. Strong live in California? Does he ever frequent any of the Science Fiction conventions, if only as a spectator? If he is interested, perhaps we could get him to bring out some of his "Probe/ Search" memorabelia to something like GenCon next year. Heck, if we planned it, perhaps we could tie something in with HOBY, and see if Mr. O'Brien would like to attend. --- In probe_control@yahoogroups.com, wrote: > >... Jim, I think all of us are impressed with your > initiative, drive, and motivation to accomplish what you did. > =========== > That's very nice of you, but it never would'a happened if > list manager John Gumbinger hadn't have said, "Here's an > address! Give it a shot!" ;) > > Don't forget--I'm just as big'a fan as the REST'a'ya! :) > ============ > >... I just wanted to say thanks because Search is one of all > time favorite shows and I love hearing about what happened > behind the scenes of tv shows and movies that I enjoy. And > thank God for good decent people like John C. Strong to give > up his time the way he did. > ============ > Yes--You're right! Well said. > > In fact, perhaps it would be a nice idea to make some sort > of 'Thank You' card to send Strong at his business address-- > or is that a stupid idea? > > Is there a way to do a snail-mail card that has some sort of > contribution from us listmembers saying 'thanks' (like, with > electronic signatures or something)... or is such a thing > always done as an 'e-card'? Don? The rest of you techie- > people? > ============= > >... Now stop reading this message and get to work!!! (LOL) > We are all dying to find out what you learned! > ============= > You're right, of course. ;) But I have to get done with > my 'mortgage-paying' job here before I can get home to > my 'labor of love'. ;) > > I should have the first installment ready by the end of the > evening (though it might mean taping SMALLVILLE rather than > watching it 'live'). ;) > > Thanks, Chris-- > > Jim 2891 From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Sat Oct 16, 2004 1:05am Subject: 'Thanks' to John C. Strong probecontrol Morningstar wrote: > I think that it would be great to send Mr. Strong a thank you. Perhaps > we could take the "Search" logo and have it transferred to a plaque. I > would think that something like that might ost around $20.00 or so, > depending on how fancy. > > Does Mr. Strong live in California? Does he ever frequent any of the > Science Fiction conventions, if only as a spectator? If he is > interested, perhaps we could get him to bring out some of his "Probe/ > Search" memorabelia to something like GenCon next year. > > Heck, if we planned it, perhaps we could tie something in with HOBY, > and see if Mr. O'Brien would like to attend. =========================== Mr. Strong DOES live in California. I kind'a get the impression that he's NOT a 'convention-attending' kind'a guy. And I'd be PERFECTLY willing to go in on a plaque for Mr. Strong! Jim probecontrol@... 2892 From: "Michael Beacom" Date: Sun Oct 17, 2004 2:25pm Subject: Re: Re: Question for owners of Probe pilot from Unicorn video anonimity_2003 RE: DVD's - you have touched on one of the main mysteries surrounding Search: Why isn't Warner Brothers exploiting it and releasing it? No DVD exists to my knowledge. Fortunately several members of this group have taped copies dating back to the advent of home video, when the pilot movie was reshown by several of the larger television stations involved in cable, and some have copies from overseas broadcast. Check with the moderator, they can put you in touch with the people who can get you copies of the what episodes have been salvaged. I am waiting for the day when they find out who at Warner Bro's or elsewhere could make our collective dream of video re-release or rebroadcast a possibility, so we know where to apply the pressure to make it come about. Michael B mjbeacom@... ----- Original Message ----- From: DAVID AGOSTA To: probe_control@yahoogroups.com Sent: 10/11/2004 8:24:06 AM Subject: Re: [probe_control] Re: Question for owners of Probe pilot from Unicorn video HELLO...MY NAME IS DAVID ....AND I AM A MEMBER OF THE SAME GROUP AS YOU ARE. LOVE THE OLD PROBE CONTROL STUFF......BUT I CAN NOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME FIND ANYTHING.....LIKE DVD'S. COULD YOU DIRECT ME WHERE I COULD FIND ONE OR TWO COPYIES??? I LIVE HERE IN N.Y.....DESPITE THIS NOT ONE THING CAN BE FOUND. COULD YOU HELP?......THANKS DAVID! dghprobe3 wrote: --- In probe_control, Martin Parrott wrote: > Now to my question, is this just a fluke or does anyone else have a > 'bonus' feature at the end of their episode? Hi Martin: A few years ago I recall an article in our local paper about a local video rental place, a customer complained about the same sort of thing. A movie would play, sometimes a children's title, then after that movie ended a different, more x-rated movie would show up afterwards. It seems that originally there was a different raunchier movie on your tape in the first instance, and Unicorn somehow acquired or used that tape for their stock. They put "Probe" over the earlier movie, but didn't take care that the tape recorded all the way to the end, which would have gotten rid of the previous movie. Apparently this happens at times, but I don't think all the tapes of "Probe" are exactly the same. Be interesting to get feedback from other members of the list who have a copy of the Unicorn tape. You could possibly return your tape of "Probe" to Unicorn Video, but since the title is out of print, they wouldn't have a new one to return to you. One solution: Cover the "don't erase" tab of your VHS tape with some masking tape, then tune your satellite receiver to Channel "0" for a black screen, or to a test pattern image and dub that over the offending remaining portion of the other movie. Be careful not to dub over any part of "Probe." When finished, remove the masking tape so as to not accidentally erase your tape of "Probe" at any time in the future. --Don 2893 From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Mon Oct 18, 2004 4:41am Subject: John C. Strong Interview--Part Three probecontrol BEGINNING OF PART THREE A: Can you recall any (SEARCH) episodes that were suggested, or written, and not used? Were there any unproduced scripts that you're aware of? S: Oh, God. There're some SOMEwhere. How you do those shows is you put 18 or 20 stories, uh... into development. And then when some of them don't work out, they don't work out... you hire 15 writers or 16 writers to do basic scripts and then they send them to (unintelligible), and we rewrite them. A: Right. ("We" meaning) you and Mr. Stevens. Now, Stevens left about halfway through the series... S: Well, uh... Leslie had a disagreement... A: Correct. He wanted to do something for CBS at the time that involved a show that would be telecast in the States, but theatrically released overseas. Right? S: Right. A: And NBC didn't care for that too much, correct? S: That's correct. A: And that's basically where the friction, uh... came from. S: Yeah. (NBC) thought the (SEARCH) episodes needed to be more hard-edged. And Leslie thought they SHOULDN'T be more hard-edged. It was a more 'romantic adventure story' with some good action in it. A: Well, that leads into my next question, for which I think a lot of people have been wanting an answer. You just alluded to the fact that--you said it was the network that wanted (the show to have) a harder edge? S: Yup. A: (During the first 15 episodes of the SEARCH TV series), we saw beautiful photography, a more colorful look, and softer film stock, a darker Probe Control, uh... and then (with the 16th episode) everything shifted. We got a brightly-lit Probe Control with concrete-block walls... S: That's right. A: ... and the stories kind of shifted towards a (more standard) 'detective' drama with a little LESS Probe Control... S: That's right. A: ... and that was DIRECTLY related to the network?... S: That's right. A: ... and what they wanted? Wow. S: It wasn't OUR idea. (pause) A: Simple as THAT, huh? S: Simple as that. A: Even the cast changes that occurred at that time with the Probe Control technicians? S: Yes sir. A: Wow. So they didn't care for the 'Ginnys' and the 'Byrons' and the (Probe Control) people (in the first 15 episodes)? S: That's correct. A: And (the network) requested a different look for Probe Control, as well as a different set of technicians, huh? S: That's correct. A: Hmm. And that's why the (set and lighting) changes were made in Probe Control--to kind of lighten things up and maybe make it appear a little less 'dramatic' and a little more hard-edged? S: Uh, well... you know... as I told you (during our previous phone conversation)... one of the things that you do in making television or movies... is you guide an audience in... to suspend belief... A: Correct. S: Okay? Our vision of Probe Control... was this isolated control module for one or two or three operatives. And, as you saw in the background of this vast set... there were OTHERS in the distance. Groups just like OUR group, there.... A: Correct. S: ... that were controlling more than one operative. A: Right. S: So, basically... and this was before CGI, you understand. A: Right. Everything was 'optical.' =========================== NOTE: Opticals are effects produced through Optical Printing (rephotographing film frame by frame), including transitions, superimposed titles, etc. Sometimes called Optical Effects, and were the standard ways to produce special photographic effects in the pre-CGI (Computer Generated Imagery--images created with the use of a computer; also called computer graphics (CG), computer animation, or digital animation) days. More details can be found at: http://homepage.newschool.edu/~schlemoj/film_courses/glossary_of_film_terms/glos\ sary_index.html and http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx2/glossary.html ========================== S: Everything was 'optical'... and I had to shoot it all. So when I designed the Main Tiles (for the PROBE pilot film) and had to SHOOT the Main Titles... I SHOT them all... and CREATED all the elements of that Main Title... just like I did the Main Title for McCLOUD... and the television series SEARCH, and all the other ones. Okay? You had to create EVERYTHING that you had. And one of the things that was difficult to create and suspend belief was the television Probe Screen. Okay? A: Correct. The Main Viewscreen in Probe Control. S: The Main Viewscreen. A: Because it only had analog numbers rolling. That's all we HAD in those days. There were no LED 'pop' lights in those days. A: Right. S: And Probe Control, if you remember had all those banks of computers and machines with tapes on them... A: From Control Data Corporation. ============================= NOTE: This credit appeared on the End Titles of some SEARCH episodes: "Computer Equipment furnished by CONTROL DATA CORP." Wikipedia has this to say about Control Data Corporation: "Control Data Corporation, or CDC, was one of the pioneering supercomputer firms. For most of the 1960s they built the fastest computers in the world, by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s to what was effectively a spinoff. They were well known and highly regarded throughout the industry at one time, but today are largely forgotten." More can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Data_Corporation Control Data Corporation will be mentioned briefly later in my conversation with Mr. Strong. ============================= S: That's right. So, that's why it changed, and that's why our original episodes looked like MOVIES, and the later ones looked like TELEVISION. A: Well. That's pretty much IT. It was a shift, pretty much from 'night' to 'day', especially relating to (the) Probe Control (set), which was dark and mysterious, and kind of lush, and like you said, required a suspension of disbelief... and then everybody threw the lights on. (chuckles) Literally. S: That's, uh, unfortunately, uh (chuckles)... That's IT, y'know? A: The name of the game...? S: (chuckles) 'The Name of the Game' is ANOTHER show we did. (laughs) A: (chuckles) A sly reference. S: Right (chuckles) A: Are you aware of why Warner Bros. made the decision to syndicate the show only overseas, and NOT in the U.S.? I mean, I know it was a single-season series, but is that the primary reason...? S: We had TWO seasons. A: Pardon? S: We did two seasons. A: (pause) You did TWO seasons? S: Yeah. How many episodes do you have? A: Twenty-three, sir. S: That's RIGHT. Our initial order was (for) thirteen (episodes)... A: Oh! That was considered TWO seasons? S: Right. A: Still... a (full season order) in those days was around 25 episodes, and a bit earlier, it had been as many as 30... S: Right. A: So in essence, (SEARCH) had an episode (count) that was that of a single season. Still, it was never, uh, syndicated domestically. Any reason for that? S: You know what? I'm not sure. It's amazing to me, because, when it was on.. I got some amazing response to the show... and we were all very PROUD of it. And we all work in this business, and move from job-to-job, from movie-to-movie, and from television series-to-television series... and you don't find a 'family.' Most of these GOOD shows had 'families.' Well, we had a good 'family' there. (pauses) Tony Franciosa, went out one night, went and jumped off a dock onto some pads and broke his shoulder... (unintelligible) for one of our directors Barry Shear. ========================== Note: Barry Shear started his directorial career in the late 50's, and was a popular television director in the 60's and 70's, directing for such TV series as THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E., and STARSKY & HUTCH. He created/produced and directed 1962's multiple-Emmy-winning THE LIVELY ONES, starring Vic Damone. Prior to SEARCH, Shear directed episodes of McCLOUD and THE NAME OF THE GAME--both series on which Mr. Strong also worked. The episode of SEARCH that Shear directed was entitled 'The 24-Carat Hit', and though I cannot link a specific scene to the incident that Mr. Strong is describing, it's possible that it was cut out of the final episode. After being injured, listmember Don Harden reminds me that Franciosa would have had a couple of weeks to recover, as the next episode in the production order was 'Numbered for Death' (a 'Grover' episode), followed by 'Countdown to Panic' (the last 'Lockwood' episode), and then 'The Clayton Lewis Document' (the next Bianco episode). List of episodes & production order at: http://www.probecontrol.com/Scripts.html More on Barry Shear at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0790395/ ========================== S: I said, "Barry! What the f**k are you DOING?!" Barry said, "He didn't want a stuntman to do it. He wanted the audience to see his face." A: (laughs) S: I said, "Well (let the audience) see his face when he LANDS!" You know? Go wide on the 'big leagues' and it'll look the same! A: You're saying Franciosa did that (stunt) because he cared deeply--even with the risk involved--about the series? S: Absolutely. Look at O'Brian! It would been easy for Hugh to say, "Look! My f***ing knee is in a CAST for the next 28 days. I can't DO this!" A: Right. And to postpone everything. S: He went through pain, he went through hell. I don't know if you remember the mission in which he had the fight in the wine cellar... A: Absolutely. In the PROBE pilot. S: Well, the way we shot him, his wheelchair was on top of a table. A: Oh my gosh! No way! S: Yep! A: That's amazing! You'd have NO idea! Which speaks for the creativity and dedication of the people involved. S: Yeah. A: If the series had gone into (another) season, what changes would YOU like to have seen, personally? S: Well, uh... the (unintelligible) of action-adventure is, uh... if you remember MOONLIGHTING... A: Very well. Glenn Gordon Caron. ========================= NOTE: MOONLIGHTING was the popular 1985-1989 ABC network series which starred Cybil Shepherd, and launched the career of Brice Willis. Glenn Gordon Caron was the show's creator and original Executive Producer. ========================= S: That's right. If you had a relationship like Lockwood had with Angel Tompkins... I'd like to have seen her more in the episodes. I'd like to have put someone else with Tony, and someone with Doug. A: Kind of match'em up, huh? S: Yeah... to give'em a... whether it's a guy, or a girl, or a kid... SOMETHING. A: Somebody to 'bounce off' of. S: Somebody to 'bounce off' of. Rather than just 'bouncing off' of Probe Control. A: Gotcha. (Having a regular person to bounce off of) rather than just the guest cast. Having someone like you're referring to would offer the audience a specific relationship that they would come to enjoy. S: That's right. We knew nothing about their lives! A: Well, that was part of the 'mysterioso' that you were talking about earlier. S: Right. A: It kind of worked for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, I guess. S: It did. It did. But if you look back at MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, some of those shows are very sterile. A: Oh, VERY sterile! S: Okay, so... I started a kid named Sam Elliott. I starred him as Evel Knievel... ===================== Sam Elliott played the title role of the famed motorcycle stunt rider in a failed 1974 CBS pilot called EVEL KNIEVEL. Elliott also played an IMF Agent named 'Doug' in the 1970-1971 Season of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. ===================== S: I got him a job with Danny Petrie in a show called LIFEGUARD... ===================== More on LIFEGUARD and Daniel Petrie can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074798/ ====================== S: I mean, there are stories all over town... So, I would liked to have known something about them PERSONALLY, so you CARED what happened about them always. A: And you can only do that by getting to know them better. S: Yes. END OF PART THREE 2894 From: "dghprobe3" Date: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:33am Subject: Re: John C. Strong Interview--Part Three dghprobe3 --- In probe_control, "Jim Alexander" wrote: S: ...Tony Franciosa, went out one night, went and jumped off a dock onto some pads and broke his shoulder... (unintelligible) for one of our directors Barry Shear... Hi Jim: Franciosa breaking his shoulder in "24 Carat Hit" is another new item for us. I don't recall any scene which required Bianco to jump off anything except maybe one of the final scenes, where Bianco swung down from the rope to knock down Lenny Montana, the big guy with white hair who was in "The Godfather." Breaking a shoulder must be a difficult area to treat. Years ago I broke one of my collarbones, and it was painful. It felt like a needle sticking in my shoulder. I also found that you can't put a shoulder in a cast. I was prescribed a painkiller and I wore a somewhat thick fabric brace that went around both of my shoulders for a number of weeks. Since Franciosa wore a jacket throughout "24 Carat Hit," a brace like what I wore would have been fairly easy to conceal. Anyway, Franciosa fared better than Robert Conrad in "Wild Wild West." Conrad swung from a chandelier during one of the last third season shows ("Night of the Fugitives") and suffered a concussion. Production had to be shut down, and that episode did not air until the fourth season. We're getting some great information from Mr. Strong, so please continue, sir. :-) --Don 2895 From: "Geoff Willmetts" Date: Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:30pm Subject: RE: Re: John C. Strong Interview--Part Three gfwillmetts Hello Jim I agree with Don. Great stuff. I'm now going to have to watch Probe again with a look out for where HOB was in a wheelchair. Amazing that none of us saw the joins. :-) Geoff 2896 From: "Mike" Date: Tue Oct 19, 2004 8:55am Subject: Interview kc8nqa Hello ALL, Just finished part three of the interview with Mr. Strong, Excellent Indeed, I will also watch the pilot again for that scene in the wheelchair, I certainly ever noticed. Good Day All, kc8nqa 2897 From: "galacticprobe" Date: Sun Oct 24, 2004 3:31am Subject: Re: Scanner comparison galacticprobe Greetings, It's been a while since I've been able to check with the group (bouncing around the ocean for months at a time makes it difficult). I would first like to say a heart-felt thank you to Jim and Mr. Strong for all the wonderful (and intriguing) information. I am very much enjoying the transcripts! Something I am curious about is this replica scanner. It looks magnificent (I wish I could come up with a more powerful praise, but I can't find a word that does true justice). I think I missed the ebay auction for it. One question that hit me straight away is, how was the main circuit board (scanner face) made? I've been trying to make one of my own for some time now and that little circuit is something I just can't figure out. I don't have the time to create enough to try selling them (besides, as my wife can attest to, I never sell things like that, that I make... I hoard). I would most likely make only 2 or 3 for my me, my wife, and a spare (as one of us is apt to lose one some day!). If there are any ideas someone would like to share, feel free to e-mail me off list if the utmost secrecy is desired. (After all, we wouldn't want that info falling into the hands of some Romulan, or Vogon, or even Vorlon, would we? Yes, I am being rather twisted in the humour department... blame it in the cold medication!) Well, enough of my babblings for now. Take care everyone. End Run, Dino --- In probe_control@yahoogroups.com, "Mike" wrote: > > > Hello ALL, > > In response to the Scanner comparison question, > Here is a pic to compare. > > http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/ohitsjustme/ScannerCom1.jpg > > I will be putting one of the two I have on ebay within the next > couple days. > > Thankz, > kc8nqa 2898 From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:39am Subject: John C. Strong Interview--Part Four probecontrol BEGINNING OF PART FOUR A: You mentioned you had an original Scanner prop and an artcard from the series... ================ Note: During our initial phone conversation, Strong related to me that he was in possession of the show's original Scanner prop, as well as an handmade artcard with the red, blue, and white SEARCH logo that Strong says he designed for NBC's approval. ================ A: ... Any other remnants (from the show)? S: You know what? When I sold my last house, the last four stills from Probe Control... went in the dumpster. I think they were three-by-four production stills. One of Hugh O'Brian in Probe Control... one of 'Buzz'... one of the whole cast... A: Wow. Very sad. But you saved a Scanner? S: I saved the TWO Scanners... the 'action' Scanner... A: You had two 'hero' Scanners, sir? ===================== NOTE: Use of the term 'hero' within the movie industry often refers to a prop built with enough detail to photograph well in a close-up. In the case of many props, a second--perhaps less-sophisticated version--is constructed that will serve the purposes of day-to-day shooting and rougher handling. The 'non-hero' SEARCH Scanner props were worn by the actors throughout the course of shooting in rough-and-tumble action scenes, in sand, water, and the like. This day-in, day-out Scanner, which was never shot in close-up, wasn't as detailed as the 'hero'. The 'hero' prop is often more costly, and is protected by the propmaster, who would allow the 'hero' prop to be used only in situations that required close-up photography and special handling. Often, because of budgetary limitations, only ONE 'hero' prop exists. But sometimes, a second version is created as a back-up. Do a Google search under "hero prop" and you'll find some interesting movie and TV items. ====================== S: Huh? A: Were there two 'hero' Scanners, sir? S: There was only one. And I've got it. A: No kidding. One 'hero' Scanner? S: That's right. A: I'll bet the Propmaster looked after THAT! S: Well, I did. A: Well... (laughs)... so the other 'workhorse' Scanners that were worn day-to-day... what were they? Hand-painted resin copies, or what? S: No, they were metal... just not quite as detailed. A: And you say you designed the original red, blue, and white SEARCH logo? S: That's correct. A: The same one that was used all the way through the show, on the paperbacks, and on the View-Master packet? S: That's correct. A: Were any other mass-market items BESIDES the View-Master reels or the Weverka paperbacks ever considered, to your knowledge? S: We were gonna do the Scanners... we were gonna do a little earpiece radio... A: Wow! S: We were gonna do a lot of little things. Not the Dental Implant... we couldn't do THAT... A: (laughs) S: ... just the Scanner. But there were some (other) things we were gonna do. We were gonna do a PROBE CONTROL GAME... We had a number of things in mind. (pauses) You know, Leslie had a wonderful resolute quality. And being a talented man, he wanted whatever he did to have a touch of quality to it. And when somebody wants to devoid something of the quality, you... disassociate yourself with it. A: Understood. And that's why (Stevens) left? Because he disagreed with the network's requests? S: That's right. And he told me that I was to stay on... to finish the show... to make sure that whatever we had in it... didn't erode. A: He entrusted YOU... S: Yes. A: And I think Anthony Spinner was part of that, too--late in the game. S: Yeah. Late in the game. And Bobby Justman, who was an Associate Producer on, uh... A: STAR TREK? S: STAR TREK... and THEN CAME BRONSON... A: Right. And Justman was there for the first half of the series, and Spinner was there for the second half. Did Justman leave (SEARCH) for the same reasons that Stevens did? S: Kind'a. Bob Justman didn't write. And the network felt that (Justman) was more of a Production Manager-type Producer, and wasn't essential to the show's 'new look.' Tony (Spinner) didn't produce... he was just a writer. And (Spinner's) skew was somewhat different from OURS, you know? A: Right. S: But they needed me and my group to complete the episodes, so it didn't make any difference. I told Tony and 'Huge' and Doug what needed to be done, and they DID it. A: Did you, Stevens, Spinner, and Justman have differing views on how the series was to be done? S: Me? S: Well, I mean differing from one another, yes sir. S: Well, you know... if you have a pocketwatch that ticks well and keeps good time... you don't (need to) FIX it. And, what you NEED to do is have more INVENTIVE ways to bring your show up from a 14-point... (pauses) If any show on television gets a 14.7 or a 16 or 18 rating TODAY... it's a HIT. We had those then, and it wasn't ALL IN THE FAMILY. Y'know? A: Right. S: It was very good. A 22 rating is not bad. But it wasn't... a 40 (rating). A: Which the network was looking for... S: Right. A: Was SEARCH considered to be a high-budget show for Warners? S: No. We never did anything high-budget. A: Well, it LOOKED it. S: Like, for example, on the show that I wrote--'In Search of Midas', the studio didn't want to do that because to go to Vegas, it would cost them $75,000. I went to a production meeting with Charlie Greenwell and Ed Morey... ======================= NOTE: Edward Morey Jr. started at Republic Studios as an assistant director, working on films such as 'Legend of the Lost' and 'The High and the Mighty.' In the early 1950s he directed the first commercia